Goodbye Bullet

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Bullet died tonight around 11pm. I first met him while working at the Humane Society. He was the only dog of the hundreds I worked with there that I wanted to bring home with me. It took a little work to finally bring him home, and when we did, we let you sleep in our bedroom the first night. Every time Tim or I moved he came over to check on us. Early on he ate kleenex, paper towel and books, and he didn't like to be in his crate, but gradually we all adjusted. He didn't like fighting. When he was younger we took him to the dog park and he was always the one to walk in and break up fights. One time Tim and his friend were pretending to fight, so Bullet growled at Tim's friend. Then Tim and I pretended to fight and Bullet growled at Tim. Although he was protective, he was never mean. He would bark at anyone who walked past the windows and yard at first and later just the yard. He wasn't always the bravest dog. He didn't like getting his nails trimmed or taking a bath. Sometimes I called him my fearful protector. He always did try to protect us though. This past winter Tim took Nick and Bullet for a walk and had Nicholas in the sling under his jacket. A man started yelling at Tim and Bullet growled lowly, and his hair stood up on his back. Once the guy saw Bullet he muttered something and turned around and walked away. He was also a big teddy bear. I could not have asked for a better dog for the kids. When Andrew was first walking he crawled all over Bullet and Bullet never complained. Even tonight as I was getting ready to take him to the Emergency Clinic and held Nick and watched over Bullet, Nick was so excited to see his doggie. He taught Andrew about being kind to animals and would happily hang out with him. He didn't like to be alone, except finally on his porch. Thankfully, he didn't spend his last days alone. We went up north (to my parents' house). I wasn't sure if we should go this time since Bullet had been having some loose stools, but he seemed to be getting better and Bullet has always loved going up north. He will realize halfway where we are going and just stand in the back of the Jeep with his nose to the window. He had a wonderful day Saturday. He was even running around, which he hasn't really done in a long time since he has been pretty stiff, I was jogging to keep up with him. Sunday he was a little more sluggish (he usually is though since he runs around the first day) and then he was sick while we went into Bemidji. After we came home we walked around a bit, Bullet got brushed (which he loves) and after that he kept getting a little slower until he just didn't really want to get up anymore. He was worse this morning and we tried to decide if it would be better to stay or go home. We finally decided to go and loaded Bullet into the back of the Jeep one last time. We stopped in Grand Rapids and ate outside near the parking lot leaving the back of the Jeep open and coming over to give him water, talk to him, pet him, etc. I said goodbye to him then because I just had a feeling he might not make it home. We stopped again in Pine City and he didn't want to look up or drink any water and I knew he wasn't doing well. We decided to stop at home and drop Tim and the kids and Nick's bed off and then Bullet and I would go to the clinic if Bullet was still with us. We went to the clinic, I had one of the staff follow me outside, and we found that Bullet was almost gone. I sat with him and pet him and told him he was a good boy and I think he was gone by the time we got him inside. I will miss him. He wasn't my first dog, but he was the first dog that was really mine and not my dad's. He was almost always in the house with us and in what ever doorway we wanted to go through. He didn't like to be away from his family. I spent a lot of time this weekend sitting with him and talking to him an petting him and I am glad I did. I met him seven years ago, which went too fast, and he was about ten years old. He was getting stiff, but did well until the last couple days, which is about as good as we can ask. Good bye Bullet. You were a good dog and we loved you very much.