Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

I talked about this earlier in the year, our good, old dog Magic has been declining and today is the day that we will set him free from the pain, the blindness and misery that can happen to any of us after a life well lived. The story of how he came to be our dog is almost magic...

Marshall, our first dog, had passed way the summer of 1996 and in December of that year I decided a dog for Christmas would be brilliant! I called all over until I found affordable purebred lab puppies (no computer searches in those days). The puppies were in Isanti, far from me but close to my brother in-law where we would be spending Christmas. I called the breeder and he explained that there was only one left, the runt, and that someone was coming to look at him over the weekend.

Long story short, I convinced him that my family needed the dog much more than the random hunter who was coming to look at him and I promised that someone would be there by the end of the day with cash. Luckily my sister-in-law was game for this and on Christmas day the faces of the kids and Mark were priceless! That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

We knew right away he was an amazing dog, he learned everything so fast from potty training to hunting. One day he was laying on the floor looking at me with his ears all perked forward and I said, "Put your head down". BAM, he put his head down, now how did he know what that meant. He also instantly learned the army crawl, I don't know where he was able to use this, but he was sure good at it. He even brought Mark live ducks from the swamp that some other hunter had wounded and not found.

 

I took him to my office every day, he was the official greeter at world headquarters. Rochelle, who worked with me for 10 years, taught him to roll over, another trick he never forgot.. Thanks Rochelle! Everywhere he went people seemed to appreciate his gentle spirit and very, very shiny coat.

Our life together was better because Magic was our stabilizer. With teenagers, working parents and crazy schedules it was Magic we could all go to with our drama and our troubles. You just had to lay your head on his shoulder and you could feel the sadness or whatever ailed you begin to ease. Now it is our turn to ease his pain, Sam, Mckenzie, Mark and I will take good care of him on this final journey just as he has taken such good care of us.

We still have two dogs; Niles, the miniature greyhound, is the comedian, Jack the 105 lb black lab is, well, we still aren't sure, he is just Jack. But Magic lived up to his name, he really was magic.