Man's Best Friend

I've had some really good dogs over the years with most of them being male labs. 6 years ago we changed things up and took in a female Aussie. Best pet decision we ever made. Just as my boys were heading off to college, Ellie joined the household with 2 other dogs and immediately became the focal point of our day to day lives. She was a backyard escape artist jumping over chain link fences and squeezing between the bars on the taller metal fence out front at will. There was no keeping her contained but her destination was always the front door where she would sit patiently with her nose pressed against the glass until we let her inside. Her athleticism was incredible and she loved to put on a show snagging frisbees out of the air no matter how far you threw them. Our labs quickly learned there was a new alpha as she would round them up and pull them into the pen if they were not wanting to go in willingly. She instinctively knew what we wanted done and just did it without ever having any professional training. No begging, getting on beds or couches, chewing, or any of the other bad habits we had to break our labs of when they were young. She was just perfect in every damn way and unfortunately lost way too soon to an undetected tumor in her nasal cavity that eventually got to her brain. Putting her down yesterday was just awful but I am glad her suffering was short lived and am so blessed for the joy she brought our family. Sitting in my recliner tonight for the first time in years without her chin on the armrest staring at me with those blue eyes waiting for me to rub her head. I know we'll eventually get over her, but damn this one is going to take a while. RIP Ellie.