Riley entered my life in 2008. I still remember that day. I found her on Craigslist, paid a $60 "rehoming fee", and she sat on my lap as I drove home with my new puppy. I was young and broke, living alone, and could barely afford my bills. It was an irresponsible decision to get a dog at that point in life, but I'm so glad that I was able to make it work.
She was a mix of two retrievers: Her mother was a chocolate lab and her father was a golden retriever. Somehow all of their puppies were black.
I had some experience with dogs before her, but I did not know about the amount of affection that retrievers are capable of. As I was getting to know her, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she loved hugs so much, she even initiated them! Literally the sweetest dog I've ever met.
She was very smart. I was able to teach her most of her tricks in like ~10 mins each, while heating up frozen pizzas or whatever cheap garbage I ate back then.
She was the most consistent part of my bumpy path in life. She has been with me through tough breakups, my parents' deaths, career changes, and many other ups and downs that come with adulthood.
She's also the oldest retriever I've ever met. She would have been 17 years old next week.
We were together until her last breath. With my hand on her chest, I felt her final heartbeat.
And I will remember her until mine.
Riley was such a good girl.
Thank you for sharing, I have had the pleasure to live alongside many dogs in my life and I am always struck by how they blaze through our preconceptions in their elegant proof that yes they are certainly alive and sentient, you don't need proof as a dog owner to know that or rather to live alongside a dog is to experience this truth for years and years as a deep yet simple friendship.
Look up the archaeological evidence, dogs were with us tens of thousands of years before we even figured out agriculture, they aren't just pets, they aren't domesticated work animals like most domesticated animals (not that there is anything worse or less about that), they are truly our species longest and most loyal companion and it isn't even close (not hate towards cats, I love cats too but their domestication is WAYYYY more recent).
The joy you felt with your friendo, it was and is an expression of that, and in that sense this is an eternal thing.
That makes a lot of sense. We knew each other so deeply. There were many times when I'd tell her to do something that I'd never told her to do before, and she just somehow understood me and did it without hesitation. No training session needed. I still don't really understand how it was possible.
Of course, she often used this connection to her advantage too. For example, if she wanted a treat, or wanted permission to get on the couch to nap on her favorite cushion. She definitely knew how to be adorable on purpose ๐ฅน
This photo was her trying out a new method of asking for a treat.
It was highly effective.
(Though I had to move that plant somewhere else afterwards. She had never expressed interest in it before then, but peace lilies are toxic for dogs.)
Because long before we even started trying to understand ourselves ernestly, there was already a dog that did by our side :P