Gandalf

Gandalf has passed away.  I'll be sharing more pictures in this post than you may care to flip through... but each is precious to me as I think back over Gandalf's life.  I'm just going to take a little walk through his life as I process letting go and saying goodbye to our old friend, Gandalf.

9 1/2 years ago Justin and I were woken up by a midnight call from my brother, Evans, urgently reporting "I have a puppy.  It is most likely going to die.  It was living under a truck abandoned by its mother.  The owner (an irresponsible farmer as I recall) was going to shoot it.  Will you take it?"

Of course.

So the next morning a 4 1/2 pound ball of pathetic cuteness arrived.  I was told to not get attached because this runt most likely wouldn't live.  He had a hernia, fleas, worms, fungus, and a massive infected gash in his neck from the mother dog (we presume).  Vets sure can do wonders.

 Gandalf grew into a rambunctious puppy.  He wasn't "Gandalf" right away, though.  Justin and I couldn't settle on a name.  I wanted to name him Neutron, and Justin wanted to name him Rudy.  We made a list and couldn't agree on anything until one of us mentioned Gandalf... and that was that.

Evans always did feel responsible for our adoption of Gandalf, and so he became our #1 babysitter when we had to go on trips.  Gandalf was not so easy to babysit... he was a big baby who wanted to be let out at least once a night (he NEVER grew out of this), tried to eat all our food (he NEVER grew out of this), and as a puppy he chewed all our shoes and furniture (thankfully he did grow out of this).

 He was a show stopper.  A beautiful Weimaraner, and we got comments about how handsome he was everywhere we went.

 Gandalf was our first "baby."  He went on camping adventures with us often.

Whenever anyone would come to visit us the first year we had him they'd always say, "He's gotten even bigger!" Every time we thought he was full sized he would just keep growing.  He grew taller than the breed usually grows, which always gave him some joint problems, but other than that he was a spunky, goofy guy.  I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get tall enough to eat off the kitchen table comfortably.

Here I was showing my little "baby bump" as I was pregnant with William, our first, when Gandalf jumped up to dance a bit.  He was excited about our growing family apparently ;). Gandalf took a bump down on the totem poll when we had William, but he seemed to love being adored by the children.  Thankfully we taught him to stop jumping up before baby William arrived.

When William came along he became best buds with Gandalf since there were no siblings to play with.  Gandalf was the pillow, the horse, the vacuum, the entertainment.

William and Gandalf

 See Gandalf smiling?  He loved it.

William laughs at Gandalf eating the bed...

But William also laughs at Gandalf just lying around :)

Gandalf had a way of getting the very best laughs out of William.

Gandalf was William's playground.

These were just a FEW of the videos I have of William and Gandalf.

They were the best of friends.

It didn't take Gandalf long to discover that children are a great place to find food.

Gandalf was ALWAYS patient.

 ...Always patient.

The only time I ever had a major falling out with Gandalf was when we got our first set of chickens.  He must have thought one of them would make a good chew toy.  In one little snap and jerk he had killed one of our chickens (the only thing he every harmed in his life).  I was about 8 months pregnant with Vera at the time and boy was I upset with Gandalf!  I shunned him for over a month for it, and he never ever ever no never touched a chicken again.  In fact, he was a wonderful chicken protector from then on.

 Vera came along and was another kid to feed him and pounce on his back. 

William now had a horse and a squire.

Ok, so Vera wasn't quite as interested in Gandalf as William, but deep down she loved him.

Vera enjoyed one lick of butter for herself, then one lick for Gandalf,

one for her, one for the g dog.

(As you can tell, I didn't jump to stop them from feeding the dog... instead I'd go get my camera.  While he mostly ate his dog food, Gandalf's first love in life was people food.)

In Virginia, William and Gandalf shared the snowman, which they both licked.

Gandalf's habit of getting up to pee in the night was exhausting.  When Justin and I had enough of waking up in the night to let Gandalf out, Justin built a great doghouse so he could start sleeping outside.  That lasted one night.  He chewed through the window and barked like crazy... and so it became a children's playhouse. (Don't judge about Gandalf's bad habits until you've owned a Weimaraner for yourself.)

Gandalf's head would turn green in the summer when he would eat cherry tomatoes straight off the vine down in the garden.

Silas joined the family... another kid to feed the dog!

"One lick of peanut butter for you, and one for me.."

 Apple Picking

Gandalf's dream come true having a kid who would crawl into his dog food so they could both chow down.

Gandalf still smiled as Silas took his turn as 'rider of the gallant dog.'

 Snow days were fun for Gandalf too.

 Silas and Gandalf on chicken duty.

Silas loved to walk Gandalf... and I just loved their size comparison. 

Gandalf loved his German sister, Lea, too.  She was afraid of dogs when she came to live with us, but learned to trust Gandalf very quickly.  Everyone who knew Gandalf knew he was a big teddy bear, but those who didn't know him ran for their lives when he let his bark loose (I literally witnessed many people sprinting out of our yard, sorry Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses).

 Gandalf was not happy when we traveled unless someone stayed at our house or he was in the neighbor's bed (thanks for loving him so much, neighbors!).  So, when we went on a trip and tried to have someone just "check in" on him, we came home to destroyed doors... what can I say? He really loved us and missed us.

(can you see how destroyed the wood and paint are on the door?)

Gandalf loved our trips to the beach over the years.

This was one of his favorite and most hilarious positions.

Gandalf was loving, patient with the kids, beautiful, loyal, goofy, and precious to us.  He was also stubborn, gluttonous, and needy.  There were times when he really tried our patience, especially Justin's in the middle of the night, but we all grew a lot together. 

Not all dogs are tall enough to drink out of the water fountain!

 Gandalf was also adored by our newest baby, Patrick, but it is strange to think that Patrick won't remember him.

Patrick will just be told that he had a big, sweet doggie to climb on when he was a baby.

Around Thanksgiving of 2015 it was clear that Gandalf wasn't doing well.  He was slowing down a lot, coughing, and not eating well, which, as you might tell, was a huge deal.  I took him to the vet (above) where he hid behind me on the bench like the big baby he is, and he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  For a while he was doing alright.  He wouldn't touch his dog food anymore so we used canned food.  On good days he still stole food off our plates.  This past week he took a real turn for the worst as he was barely able to get to his feet on his own... and then couldn't get to his feet without our help... and then stopped eating (even warmed meatballs being served in our own bowls)... and then stopped drinking... and then couldn't get to his feet even with our help.

Here he is, the gentle giant, at the end...his last day February 12, 2016.  Done chasing strangers away from the house, done snatching snacks out of the children's hands, but still holding a big piece of our hearts.  I prayed for a gentle passing.  I'm thankful that we didn't have to "put him down," (something I was scared and nervous about doing) but he appeared peaceful all day as he lay in his bed and then departed from this world. Justin and I cried... especially while watching William say goodbye and shed his tears. 

Gandalf, you were a good dog.