The One with Remembering Sneakers

They say dogs are a man's best friend. I concur. Though Sneakers never reciprocated his affection for me which I so ardently wish he had (I was the one who begged and pleaded and begged some more to get a dog in the first place!!!), he was still the unofficial 6th member of our family for the past 13 wonderful and fun-filled years.

My family had to put down our trustee sheltie known as Sneakers last night. Let's face it, he was falling apart. He had been deaf for a couple years and just recently stopped eating. My mom took him to the vet on Monday where they found out he's allergic to flees and his skin was all sorts of messed up and so was his mouth. Then came the even bigger and worse news - his kidneys had failed. They could try a bunch of expensive procedures, but the outcome was not promising. So my family chose the other, most dreaded, option. My mom called me yesterday to tell me the news and it didn't really sink in until about 4:45pm when I was chatting with my dad:
me: What time is the deed being done?
dald: I think 8:30
me: Super sad. It's almost worse having to be there when it happens I think.
dald: I know. I'm going to tickle his tummy until the end.
(And that's what set off the waterworks. Luckily I sit all by myself in the front of the office so I wept in peace.)
dald: I hope we get our pets back in heaven, that's all I can say.

I went to LDS.org and searched for "pets in heaven." A story from the Liahona magazine came up and here is the answer: “Usually, when we talk about the resurrection, we think of people. But the scriptures teach us that man, the earth, and all the life upon it will be resurrected, mentioning especially the beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea. The Savior gave His life so that everything would rise from the dead, even lizards and robins.”
I'm going to have a looooooooot of pets in heaven. I asked Chris if we get to pick and choose, cuz there are some pets I'd like to have for time and all eternity more than others. He said he's sure it'll all work out. I believe him.

I got an email from my mom at 11pm last night:
"We are all so completely sad. Eric wept. Allie wept. Dald clutched at his chest like he was having a heart attack. He said he felt like his heart was breaking. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I want Sneakers to contact me from doggie heaven to tell me he's okay."
Malm - I'm sure he's running around chasing lawnmowers, barking at doorbells ringing, and loving having his hearing back. I'm sure he's one happy dog.

In memory of our beloved family pet, here are some pictures from Sneakers' life:

Some time in the early fall of 1997
When we first got him we used to call him a Beanie Baby because he was so small. I remember when we were deciding on a name before we got him. It was either between Hawkeye and Sneakers. I'm glad Sneakers won out, Hawkeye is weird...


Some time in the fall of 1997
Was he really ever that little?


Some time in the winter 1997
Teenage dogs aren't the cutest are they? They're gangly and awkwardly proportioned. But still. Sneaks is pretty cute.


February 14th, 1998
Ahhh, the life of a bachelor on Valentine's Day :)


November 11th, 2000
Love this action shot of Eric jumping into the leaves and his best friend not far behind.


December 1st, 2002
Pretty much the only picture I have of just me and Sneakers.


June 1st, 2003
I remember every morning while still living at home, I would hear a "scrape scrape scrape" on Eric's door and he would open it and let Sneaks come in to sleep with him until Eric woke up.


January 24th, 2005
Sneakers would never harm a fly. He loved other animals and would lick them like they were his own pups. This is shortly after my dad cut a hole in the wall where we heard funny noises and it turned out to be Allie's hamster Ida. Proof that my dad has a soft spot for animals. He cut a hole in the wall!


November 26th, 2005
These red booties lasted about as long as it took to get this picture!


September 3rd, 2006
Happy dog! Seriously, it looks like he's smiling!


November 12th, 2007
This was one of his favorite spots. He loved to sit under this kitchen table chair and rest his chin on the rungs.


August 4th, 2008
Bring your dog to work day at Google. Sneakers didn't last very long before he started barking. But he did get this awesome sweater!


December 6th, 2008
Just a pretty picture of Sneakers out in nature.


January 26th, 2009
Probably my favorite picture of Sneakers ever.


July 29th, 2009
Almost exactly one year ago.


July 8th, 2010
This is the last picture I took of Sneakers - in his favorite spot. It's such a new picture that it's still in my "to sort" folder, meaning I haven't uploaded it to Picasa and placed it into the "Pictures-Animals-Sneakers" folder. I'm so glad I got to go home to Washington just a few weeks ago, if only to say good-bye to Sneakers.


July 27th, 2010
Yesterday the neighbor boys, Eric, Tanya, and Allison helped dig a grave for Sneakers. My mom says they're going to put his doggie bed in first, then Sneaks, then the green blankie he always sat on when they took him up to Lake Wenatchee.

Edited to add this slideshow that Eric made in memory of Sneakers:

We love you and we miss you Sneakers.