Yoshi

We're looking after Digger, a friends black lab for a few days. We've known Digger all his life and he used to come to the Voice Mob office since he was a pup. Digger and Yoshi were great friends. Once they worked out their dominance issues, they played well together and got along famously.

Having Digger around is causing me to think about Yoshi a lot. I am missing him so much these days. The more reminders, the more I think about him. No reminders and it is one of those out of sight out of mind.

Seeing Digger on the beach today reminded me of some of the great times Yoshi had on the beach. Long Beach was a favourite of Yoshi's. He could run and run and run with no boundaries and the most perfect sand ever. Running with his tongue flapping about is such a great memory of Yoshi. He always seemed happiest when he could get out and run like crazy.

When KaptainK (Diggers owner) got married, it was a surprise wedding. Her daughter, and her fiance's kids were there, and so were Sox and I (before we had kids). The wedding was gorgeous. It was supposed to be on the beach, but we ended up at a house overlooking the ocean in Ucluelet. We were camping that weekend and were leaving the day of the wedding. We packed the truck up and drove to Ucluelet for the wedding. We left Yoshi in the truck with the rear slider window open. After the wedding we were going to head to the location for the pictures, and as I opened the front door, there was Yoshi. For the first time ever he had got himself out the rear window. Not only that, but then he walked across all our camping gear and jumped out of the truck! Thankfully he hadn't gone far.

The day wasn't done for him though. It turned out to be a sunny day and the pictures were being taken down on one of the beaches. The beach was a couple minute walk from the parking lot and we couldn't leave Yoshi in the truck, especially after he escaped from the truck once. We took him on his flippy leash down to the beach and tied him up to a log. We left him in the shade and walked a ways away to have some pictures taken.

A short while later Yoshi broke his leash and came running at us in full gallop with a huge smile on his face. I could just that he was thinking "I'm free, I'm free" and he galloped at full speed with his tongue flapping around. As mad as I was, I could see how happy he was to be free.

I love these memories.

Sometime this morning I had a very vivid dream, and when I woke up I felt the effects for a long time.

The dream was about Yoshi. In the dream I got up one morning in "my" house and went to the kitchen. The house wasn't the one that I currently live in, but int he dream it was definitely mine.

As I walked to the kitchen Yoshi came trotting by me and brushed up against me.

In the dream I knew that he was dead and for some reason him being there was not abnormal.

Still, I was elated to see him so I grabbed him and gave him a huge hug then lay on the floor with him for a while. From the dream I can remember his smell, hearing him breath, feeling his fur.

I woke up suddenly and felt intensely sad.

I sure miss him a lot.

It's been a couple weeks, and I still think about Yoshi a lot. This is going to be my first of many posts about funny/interesting stories about Yoshi.

One thing that most people know about him is that he loved to play fetch. He was pretty good at it too, and was fast. He was obsessive about playing fetch too.

This story isn't about me playing fetch with him (though there will be a few of those), but rather about Yoshi playing with other people.

Whenever Yoshi saw a Chuck-It he would get excited. Quite often he would race over to whomever was playing fetch with their dog and join in. Yoshi was good though, and would actually return to the thrower with their ball, and not bring it back to me.

More than one person was impressed with this.

The only time it became a problem was if Yoshi didn't get the ball. He would get all excited and do his spin around, annoying whiney actions. It was usually at this point that I would head over and retrieve him. Calling him never did any good, it was always necessary to walk over and put a leash on him.

He always loved a good session of fetch.

I am still torn up about this but on Monday morning Yoshi passed away. The last couple weeks his condition had been deteriorating. Over this past weekend he began getting very crippled, very quickly and on Sunday Sue and I booked an appointment with a vet to come to our house on Monday afternoon. Early Monday morning it was apparent to us Yoshi could not wait, so we met with a veterinarian at their office and we said our goodbye.

We love Yoshi a lot and miss him terribly. There are noises I hear that remind me of him. When I walk into the kitchen I still look over to where his bed used to be to see if he is watching me. I know these will fade, but they still hurt now.

I don't want this to be a depressing post though. I want to remember Yoshi as the happy, athletic, and energetic dog he used to be. When I am up to it I will be posting some of my fond memories of Yoshi. For now a few pictures.

We've had these antlers for a while and Yoshi actually didn't mind wearing them. He got a great reaction wherever we went with them.

Yoshi loved to have a toy in his mouth. Rope toys, balls, chew toys. Quite often when we got home he would rush to the door to say hi, then we could see him looking about trying to find something for his mouth.

Running "all out" at Macaulay Point Park. His ears really flapped a lot as he ran. Very endearing.

He was quite a handsome dog. We took part in the SPCA Paws for a Cause several times and this was taken at one of them when it was down by the breakwater.

Running at a dog park with one of his buddies.

Taking a break at Macaulay Point Park. This was a great park we frequented a lot when we lived closer to it.

Galloping up the trail at Thetis Lake.

Yoshi loved sleeping in sunbeams. Even better was full on flaking out in the sun. At our old house he loved the sun deck because it got so hot. At our current house he loved to lay out back on the cement pad. Not quite as hot, but it did the trick.

This past Friday Yoshi had an Xray of his neck. It wasn't the news we were hoping for. His spondylosis has progressed up his neck and the vet is thinking that his current condition isn't likely due to an injury, but rather his degenrating spine.

For now he is off one of the drugs he was taking, and when we next talk to the vet we will see about upping the dose on something else. Right now he isn't any worse nor any better than last week.

I really want Yoshi to be able to enjoy life. Every time I get him to go lay down in his corner I feel a little guilty and quite sad. This is no life for him. I hope that some time in the next month we can hit on some combination of medications that can help him out and allow him to enjoy life again.

There is more from Sox here.