B.J.

Our family dog B.J. passed away. This happened about two weeks ago and I hadn't intended to post about it but I came across these pictures and felt like he deserved a bit of memorializing.

B.J. was half coyote and half golden retriever. Though a complete snuggle bug (see pictures above and below) he was definitely more coyote than dog. You would pet him and he would look at you like a random stranger might if you began petting said stranger on the head saying "Who's a good boy?!" Confused but polite.

B.J. in his illustrious career as a survivor has; been run over (three times by the same missionary's van), beat prostate cancer, lost most of his teeth, had all the cartilage in his right hip deteriorate, and been shot.

B.J. originally came to our lives when we moved to the Hopi Reservation in my Freshman year of High School. A few months after our beloved golden retriever Buddy ran away from our rent house this scrawny dog-creature appeared looking like "Buddy J.R." and thus he was named and became part of the family.

The incredible thing about B.J. is that he not only survived all sorts of doggy tragedies, but he thrived and completely recovered from ALL of the injuries I listed above. He even grew from a 30 pound dog to a 70+ pound dog. I'm not talking fat, this dog was all muscle. He grew like a goldfish when you put it in a bigger bowl. B.J. was always a conundrum to our vet. At every visit the vet would make us swear that this was the same dog, as B.J. just kept getting younger! Now, most of B.J.'s medical miracles were due to my Mother's (and sister's) monetary sacrifices and ongoing tab with a great vet.

On B.J.'s last day he managed to eat pizza (just the crust) and take a nap in his favorite room before passing away very quickly. I felt terrible for my Mom and Sister since they had to deal with the logistics of burying a 70+ pound beloved dog. Mom said that we should wait to buy a dog for our kid so that she will be out of the house before the dog dies. I didn't feel better about B.J.'s passing for not being there to help them. So I would disagree.

Here is a final shot of B.J. snuggling with his favorite person, my sister Jesse. I have obscured her face in this picture because as an adult Jesse is a teacher and I have seen enough newsmagazine reports about students making fake MySpace pages of their teachers to dare post a clear picture of Jesse as an adult.

Still, even though you can't see her face her affection for this silly dog (and his for her) is very clear.