Hambone

We knew this day was coming.  We expected it nearly six months ago.  But it still doesn't make it any easier. 

We lost our best friend last night. 

Hambone (or Bone) was 18 yrs old.  He was our first "child".  CP and I had been married a little over a year when we decided to increase our family.  Since CP is allergic to animal dander, we had to choose a dog that wouldn't bother his allergies.  He had a black poodle as a child so we looked for another black poodle.  We drove about 30 min from our home to a breeder and got to choose our puppy. 

On the drive home, we tried to think of names.  Lots of names were mentioned - Thunder, Tux (he had a little white spot on his chest), Spot, and at one point, CP said "Hambone".  I have no idea what made him think of that name, but I started to laugh.  I told CP that if I didn't stop laughing, Hambone was going to be his name. 

Well, you know the rest of the story.

We worked really hard to make sure he was a people dog.  Our house was on the main road of our neighborhood and lots of people used to walk the sidewalks.  We would sit outside with him and introduce him to everyone that walked by.  He was a wonderful, friendly poodle. 

We took him to obedience training at the local Parks and Rec.  He ended up winning "Most Improved" by the end of the six weeks.  (Of course, I think this was because he was such a rowdy little guy when we started!)

He was so little when we first brought him home, he would have to hop in the tall grass to get around.  If it snowed, he would sink up to his shoulders. 

We eventually moved to another town in NC and Hambone (or HB as we sometimes called him) started having seizures.  We took him to the vet and were told that the seizures would shorten his life span.  With an average life span of 12-15 yrs, we figured we'd be lucky if he lived 8-10 yrs. 

While we lived in that town, he became "friends" with our neighbor's cat.  One of our fondest memories is of the two of them running around in our backyard and crashing into each other as they tried to jump across a small trench (we were building a walkway) from opposite sides.

In 2003, we moved to Florida and for some unknown reason, he stopped having his seizures.  We still figured that after having them for the 8 yrs we lived in that town that he probably didn't have much life left.  Thankfully, we were wrong.

Of course, at 18 yrs of age, he was mostly blind (only saw light and shadows) and deaf.  He laid around alot and kept us company.  When we had company over, he would still come up to check them out and on occasion he would do his "rabbit run" where he would scamper around the house like a rabbit. But those times had become very few and far between.

Since we homeschool, the kids are used to being around him all the time.  He would come into the homeschool room and lay down on his rug and hang out with everyone.  At times, he would go visit Grandpa - even if Grandpa wasn't at home.   But that won't be happening any more.

We are going to miss our best friend.