Our Sweet Blaze

Blaze

James snuggling with "My Blazer".

So happy after a hike with Mom and Dad.

Snuggling on his giant bed.

With Dad in Montana.

Blaze and Kaya.

We are so sad to have to say "goodbye" to our sweet Blaze. It was just such a surprise. Yes, he was our old man, but I think we believed he would live forever. He leaves us with wonderful memories... hikes, camping, road trips, always wanting to be touched, his sweet demeanor, his habit of head-butting as a greeting and sign of love, his awful drool that would at times get wrapped around and around and around his nose, his right paw - always reaching out to say 'hello' and 'thank you for loving on me', his head rolling over your leg as you gently pet him, his willingness to let James roll all over him, pull on him, push him and - all the while - wagging his tail because he knew it was a sign of love, his loud wagging tail (so loud it would actually wake me in the middle of the night), his loud, loud snoring (see previous note again), his ability to drink water so loudly that we would actually have to pause movies and wait for him to finish because we couldn't hear over his lapping, his soft fur, his cuddling, the fur around his neck that you'd just want to snuggle into, his sweet eyes that would look into you and speak his love, his loud, annoying bark, the fact that he was such a wimp - literally a cup falling over would terrify him - he would "jump" up as fast as he could, paw at the ground until he got his footing and "quickly" walk away in fear, the same response would occur at the sound of a pan being set down too loudly, the doorbell, pulling a chair out too quickly and so on. He had the spark of a puppy at times - playing ball and lunging after his other puppy friends. His spark would last a couple minutes and then he would go back to sauntering through the yard and peeing on everything. His amazing quantity of hair - it would have broken world records if that were at all a competition. His love of being brushed - splayed out and totally relaxed, laying in the middle of the grass, in a pool of his own brushed blonde hair. His inability (or unwillingness, I believe) to "load up" into the back of the car - I think he just didn't want to put forth the effort. His love of going on walks - he would be so excited for the first half a block and then so tired by the time we got home... poor guy. He disgusting hacking noise. His "indoor voice". The way his eyes would cross when we'd put a treat on his nose and he'd have to wait to flip it up and eat it. The way drool would just fall out of his mouth when we was given a treat. The way his whole body would shake and wiggle when he was excited to see. you His uncanny ability to always be in just the wrong place - tripping over a giant dog is not a good thing. His love of laying on the landing of the stairs - again, tripping over a dog - not good - tripping over a dog on the stairs - really not good. His begging. His enormous bed. His enormous head. His enormous body. His enormous, huge, too big for this world, heart. We don't know if all dogs go to heaven, but we know this one is there. He was just too good, too sweet, too full of love.

We miss you, our sweet Blaze, our old man, our Blazer, our Blazer Bean, our Bubba... rest peacefully, sweet dog. Lay in the sun. Eat all you want. Wag that tail in pure joy. Know that you are missed. Know that you are loved. We love you, Blazer. We love you.