Name: Julie
City: Hamilton, On
Cody, Patti and Artie
To begin, Luke and I just want to say how sorry we are to all of you for the loss of your precious Sydney. I remember all the stories you used to write about him and how he always wanted his morning kiss before heading outside. Those memories must be so precious to you now. Tears were pouring down my cheeks as I read your tribute to him on your front page, and Luke was equally upset; the tribute was beautiful. I enjoyed the poem on the scrapbook page as well. That's a nice one.
Did you know Sydney was sick for a while? What happened to him?
As for your former boy and girl, Gabe and Star, they are doing great. Gabe sleeps on the floor right beside my bed almost every night and Star, in the winter lies at the foot of the bed, and in the hotter months she sleeps on the bathroom floor because it's tile and a bit cooler (which is right outside my door). They get along so well together. Star is the funniest when they are outside in the backyard and a stranger walks past. She gets up, practically nips Gabe on the heels as if to say, "hey get up buddy, start barking. this is our property to defend". She is quite the avid watchdog I must say. Gabe is equally funny. If I'm giving Star too much attention, or I'm simply doing something when he wants my instant attention, he barks his big deep bark. And he plays! Both of them fetch balls and run at me for hugs every morning when I get up. Gabe gurgles his happy sounds when I rub his ears and his tummy. Most of the time, I can barely find a spot to get into bed at night as they are both waiting for their nightly rub-downs and loving. But the minute I turn the lights off, they both jump down. I wish they'd stay on the bed. But whatever makes them happy.
Gabe is very obedient actually. He knows to lie down and come, and he always listens. He loves his treats and his tail wags like mad if I mention the word. Star isn't such a huge fan of treats, but is a tail wagger if I've been missing for a few hours. She's a doll; an absolute angel who never leaves my side. Gabe too, but with Luke's loud playing some days, Gabe prefers the quiet of my bed. Luke adores Gabe. He loves Star too, but you should hear him talking to his buddy Gabe. He's constantly calling me into one room or another to show me how one or both of them look at that particular moment. "Mom come quick. You have to see how cute Gabe looks".
Days when I am away at work, they sleep on the bed together. It's so funny. I make my bed every day (it's almost a joke now) and come home to find it completely torn apart - worse than people would do at night! Gabe paws and scrapes and much prefers the covers bunched up in the middle. He sure knows comfort. he loves to curl up right in between the pillows.
They go for walks with Luke and me every day. Star doesn't like to go for long walks; I think her hips bother her. She sometimes just stops walking and lies down right on the spot. So, we keep her walks rather short. Gabe on the other hand, can go forever, running like a youngster. He's doing really well. Both dogs are a joy to Luke and he has changed so much in the last 1.5 years since owning Star, initially, and coming up on a year in August, Gabe. He is only too happy to tell all the people we meet on our walks that they were "married". Then he explains all the rest of the usual questions. The most obvious one, of course, is always about Star; people go nuts over her, always gushing about how gorgeous she is (they add as an aside, 'Oh he's beautiful too', lol, good thing Gabe doesn't understand - he's so beautiful. I call him my gentle giant; his beautiful personality and face, those sweet tipped soft ears - he's a sweetie. The famous question of course "how did she end up like that? I've never seen a white one". Seriously, I have had people make u-turns while driving to come around to talk to us about her.
We just returned from a 2-week vacation at a cottage in Port Elgin. The dogs enjoyed it immensely. I'm sure they loved having us around all day and all night and the 2-3 times daily walks as well. I'm not sure who liked it more, the dogs or us! Of course, there was a fair number of thunderstorms up there, which was pretty scary, actually; they are even louder up there because of the lake etc. I seem to have a pretty good handle on how they behave now during the storms. It's bad, but we know they just want the lights on and some comfort. Gabe is worse than Star, but she's pretty shaky now during the storms too. Probably doesn't help they both feed off of each other's emotions. I turn on stereos and tvs and lights and try to drown out the noise. Star has taken to going into the bathtub; she feels secure in there I guess, so I let her go in there. Unfortunately, with the number of storms etc. I have not been able to be at home for all of them, but luckily no harm has come to Gabe. The worst that has happened is he knocked down my bedroom closet doors once, trying to get inside I guess- he was fine, though, that's the important part. But with their reaction to storms, I have become an avid storm tracker and check the radar almost 3x day to figure out how our day will progress; ie. whether I stay home or if I have to go out, I leave the blinds all pulled, the tvs on and the radios up loud.
I guess I went a bit overboard on this update! It has been so long since I have written. I promise to send you a couple of photos of the dogs in the next week so you can see how much they are a part of our family now. And again, if you're ever down this way, we would be more than happy to have you drop in to say hi to your former babies.
Take care during this very difficult time.
Luke and Julie
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