We lost our best friend today.

We lost out best friend tonight. His name was Boyd. He was struck by a vehicle on the busy street where we live. I thank God that he had blessed us with Boyd for even a short time. I have never lost anyone or anything personally close to me, so I have never known the pain. It is like nothing I have felt before. I look around and get a rush of memories from most things I see. It hurts. It hurts so deeply.

Boyd was very special to us. We celebrated his first birthday on February 2nd, this month. He got two homemade treats from Three Dogs bakery and a new marrow bone. One of the few toys that would last longer than a week with Boyd. He was an amazing dog. He learned to fetch at the age of three months old. He was so smart. I look at the furry red rug in the corner, where he moved it to and loved to lay on it. I'm so happy that I let him sleep with me in our bed last night. He usually slept in his kennel, but since it was Valentine's Day I wanted him with me. I even let him lay on the new couch with me last night for the first time. The hardest thing will be to tell my family. They loved him almost as much as JJ and I did. We took him everywhere we went. He was actually a well traveled dog. He had visited Colorado twice, Iowa, Nebraska and Montana. He met our whole family, he was always invited to holidays. He loved playing fetch with a frisbee or tennis ball. He loved pushing around his plastic red ball the size of a basketball. He enjoyed running with JJ, on gravel roads. JJ would always let him run without a leash, it was his favorite way to run with a person. I'll even miss giving him a bath, even though he hated water. He magically turned into the hulk when he would be placed in a tub full of water. One day JJ and I took him running on a nine mile prairie run. We soon found out it was a tick breeding ground. We took him home and put him in the tub to treat him with tick shampoo. We had to give him two baths and in between the bathing we would sit and pick each tick off one by one on the floor of the bathroom. We did not want him to get sick from a tick borne illness. He loved the dog park. He was pretty submissive with the bigger dogs, but he loved to run and play with them nonetheless. We know we will never have a dog we loved as much as our Boyd. This is the last photo taken of him. I took it last night. I had to share the photo with JJ since I was spending my Valentine's Day cuddling with Boyd instead of him. We will cherish all the happy memories we had with him. I look forward to the day we meet again.

The night before we lost him.  February 14th.  Our last cuddle!