It is hard to believe it was over 14 years ago that you entered our lives. Which one of the kids brought you home making us believe you followed him? Jon, I think, or maybe Richard. Those two always brought animals home... But you stayed... You became our old German shepherd's best buddy and revived him in his old age. You would never stay in the back yard, always finding ways to jump out. And it might as well have been as when you didn't run away to find company, company came to find you! i will never forget the day when we found two strange dogs in the backyard wanting to court you... ah ah... we soon remedied that and you slowed down a bit but you were never cured of your love of roaming free and any chance you got you took.
You never went far. You always came back to our front porch, to the poor mailman's great distress. More than once I had to stop him after he passed our house because you were sitting there guarding the porch from any intrusion... him included...Odie went the way of all old dogs eventually and you were left alone but Melanie and Joe came to the rescue and brought you another German shepherd to be friends with:Triton and after first pushing him away you accepted him as your son and raised him. The two of you in the backyard... One thing you were never able to teach Triton was to run away though... he brought in his own type of trouble... and I'm not sure you didn't teach him that too as I caught you more than once scratching at the back door...
But Triton was only on loan, so after Melanie and Joe took him home, you were alone once more.
Still it was not very long until Jon brought home another puppy... 6 weeks old Max, found in a dumpster with his siblings... oh how you despised him at first, growling at his futile attempts to nurse on you... but you always had a good heart and you raised him and taught him ALL your tricks... oh yes, don't think I didn't know... I watched you coax him to jump over the fence... and once he had had a taste of freedom, it was hard to keep him from running off... Oh Oreo...
Before Melanie graduated from High School you had a permanent spot on her bed. She was your whole world and when they came for a visit in those days, you would nuzzle your way to her and showered her with attention. But she really could not take you home with her. Besides by then they also had another dog because Triton was lonely for you... It was quite hectic dealing with these new additions. You hated Sammy and Triton would try to best Max, so we had to alternate you two in and out of the house with Sammy and max who got along fine. Sammy was actually much more motherly towards him than you were, but that's ok...
Eventually Max took a bride, Zoey (thanks to Jon and Brandon) and together they produced Lucy... And you took it all in stride.
You didn't run away very often any more but when you had the chance you took it... Pushing the gate open and setting all four of you into the streets of Peru... How many times have I stayed home for fear you would run off while I was gone?!
A few days ago Jon noticed something nasty in your mouth and we hoped it would heal itself but by last night it had doubled in size and smelled horribly bad. I took you to the Veterinarian this morning knowing full well there was a chance he would tell me it was cancer and that the cure was worse than the disease at your age. You had been breathing so painfully for the past few weeks. It all became clear.
When I came home alone this morning, my heart was heavy because I didn't let anyone else say goodbye to you but I didn't want you to be scared. I didn't want you to have time to figure out what was going to happen ahead of time. The doctor gave me the choice but it seemed like it would be more cruel to you.
You trusted me and you trusted the doctor who had taken care of you many times before. I put my head close to yours and whispered softy in your ear that everything was going to be ok and that you were going to soon feel much better. It was quick. You didn't show any sign of pain before your spirit was released to roam free again, this time in fields much sweeter than those on Earth and I hope with all my heart Odie and Kei and Luke were there to greet you.
It was not easy but it was better to let you go... You were a big part of our lives and will always be part of our family, Oreo... Thank You for being patient with us and teaching us to love you (grouch and all).
We miss you already... Max, Zoey and Lucy wonder where you are... I wonder how many times Lucy will take me to the backdoor to make sure you are not left outside...
We will see you again some day but for now it's goodbye...
