Bartleby

Bartleby was the coolest dog I've ever known.

When Chris & I started dating we immediately moved in together & started talking about getting a dog. We did a lot of research & he decided he really wanted a Newfoundland. One Friday I was looking online at a local rescue that only does adoptions on Saturdays & they listed that they had 4 Newfie mix puppies. I convinced Chris we should go check them out. So that morning we drove up to the shelter, waited for them to open, we were the 1st ones up to the pen with the Newfies in there & we got 1st pick of the litter. There were 2 puppies up at the front checking out all the people, 1 puppy cowering in the back & 1 in the middle just doing his own thing. We picked the puppy in the middle. They brought him to a little pen for us to get to know him. Chris & I each sat on the ground & we let the puppy come to us when he was ready. He crawled up into my lap, snuggled in & took a nap. I was hooked. He was a rolly polly ball of black fluff. We packed him into Chris's Ford Ranger & he sat on the center console between the two of us. On the drive home we discussed names and agreed, he was Bartleby. (from the movie Dogma)

We took Bartleby a lot of places. His 1st trip with us was to the pet store of course (he peed on the floor). But some of the more memorable trips were the camping trip when we tried to teach him to swim & he ran away & hid under a truck. Or the the time we took him to Long Island & he tried to swim to Conneticut! There was also the time we took him to Kentucky... we stayed in a hotel & got 2 beds so Bartleby would have a comfortable place to sleep. We had to force him on to the bed & as soon as we ignored him, he jumped back down onto the floor.

Bartleby was smart. He always knew his place in the world & he was content being in his place. He knew plenty of commands, but he also invented his own tricks. When I dropped something on the floor and said "uh-oh" he would pick it up for me every time. This morphed into him randomly finding things out of place and bringing them to me too... even food that had fallen out of the pantry! He knew that dogs don't belong in the kitchen when humans are eating. He knew that cats are to be respected and ignored. He knew that small babies are dnagerous, but big kids are fun. He loved everyone. A friend of mine once said "Bartleby, you're just like your mom; You love everyone!". Bartleby's love is what motivated me to become a vet tech. The only job I ever truly loved, all because of the dog I loved.

Bartleby turned 10 this month and he was headed down hill. He's been slower, gassier, and just not himself. The other day he stopped eating. Then he started to vomit up his water. When he got up today he struggled to walk and my heart broke. I knew it was time to let him go, but we weren't ready. I wasn't ready to call my husband at work and tell him that we needed to euthanize our best friend. I wasn't ready to explain to my 3 year old that his dog wasn't coming home with us. But it had to be done. We took him to the hospital where I used to work. We had an old friend euthanize him while Chris & I told him he was a good dog. And when we got home Derick said "I'm so sad that Bartleby is gone".

This wound will not heal for a long time. Bartleby will be missed.