My Dog Zoe

Not gonna lie, I'm feelin pretty redneck writing about my dog but I just got to.

The best dog my family has ever had, died today. I was driving home from work and saw her on the side of the road. I got out to take her home and she couldn't even get up. It broke my heart. I sat there with her, waiting for my brother to come help me. Two people stopped and pulled over and asked me if there was something they could do. I was kind of embarrassed because I was crying, but I told them that she was 13 years old and was simply old and had been on the verge of death for a while. It was her time to go. One lady gave me a cold water bottle and I poured it on Zoe to maybe make the heat a little less intense on her. Soon Milo came and he picked her up and carried her home.

Once we got her home she layed down on the rug and she couldn't even lift her head. Her breathing sounded horrible. Eventually she got up and walked to the backyard, then she fell down, and there she died.

I was sobbing next to her because she's been my dog my whole life. We got her when I was just five years old. When I was seven she had puppies and me and my little brother took them to the football games that were out behind my old house in American Fork and we gave them away to people.

She was my dad's duck hunting dog. She was smart. And she rarely ever barked. Super calm dog, never chased after cats or nothin. She always did what you told her to. She was always there for you.

When ever I'd drive down to the gas station I would put her in the bed of my truck and she'd drive around with me. I'm gonna miss her alot.

My little brother dug her grave out behind her kennel, and I sat there and watched him dig the whole thing. Once we buried her I planted some of the tulip bulbs that had been unearthed from the digging. I really hope they grow back. My brother wants to put a japanese maple tree over it.

I feel even more redneck because I've been listening to that country song - "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away". There's this line in it where Justin Moore talks about going to find his "old bird dog Bo and take him huntin' one more time." That's kind of how I feel right now, haha.

I guess you just don't realize how attached you get to a dog until you lose it after 13 years.

Well here's to you Zoe. Best dog I've ever had. You are as good as it gets.