Farewell to a Friend

February 27, 2003 - June 4, 2014

This past Wednesday, I had to say goodbye to my best friend for the past 11 years.  Brisco greeted me Tuesday night the same as every previous night, tail wagging.  But early Wednesday morning, he was not doing well.  At 6am I took him into the doggy ER.  After stabilizing him, the vets determined along with other complications, he had a tumor in his abdomen that had started to bleed into the abdomen.  The tumor had been growing on his spleen for some time, but was not affecting his personality so had gone undetected.  I had to make the decision to let him go.

In one aspect, in the end it was an easy decision.  He had lived a happy, full life and in the end it was a quick end without a lot of suffering.  He was relaxed, content, and peaceful at the end.

For the past 11 years, he has been my running buddy, camping buddy, hiking buddy, snuggle buddy.   He came to me at 8 weeks old, flown from Oregon to Ohio.  When I picked him up at the airport, he was so small and frightened.  Those first few days were a bit rough, as he suffered from a bad case of separation anxiety.  I couldn't leave the room without him crying and whining.  A big thanks goes out to Lawson my roommate at the time, for getting thru those early days.

But he quickly settled down.  And when I could control his energy, he picked up on his training.  Another big thanks goes to Dayton Dog Training Club.  We went thru Puppy Kindergarten.  Basic Obediance Class, twice (sometimes he just was a little to excited, so we repeated).  And then finally Manners Class.  I still remember having to basically lay on Brisco for most of a class because he wouldn't settle down and the instructor saying, in 2 years he would be a great dog.  She was completely right.

During his years in Dayton, he became a part of the Dayton Men's Cross Country team, although taking him to the track might not have been the best idea.

Then we moved across country to Colorado, the perfect state for the perfect dog.  He found a home at Fleet Feet becoming the shop dog for a number of years.  More people knew him than me.  People would stop in just to say hi to Brisco.  Jay would spoil him rotten, along with the guys at Pro Peloton.

Wednesday morning run at Boulder Res became a ritual.  And began his rise to fame.  The above pic appeared in the NY Times twice, once online and later in print.  After all those Wednesday mornings, I think I could have just let him go and he would have run the 10 mile loop on his own.  Unless, of course, he found someone else to run with.  Once he decided he wanted to run with a group of Kenyans.  On a day when I barely got thru 9 miles, I had to add on another 2 or 3 chasing him down.

Brisco with the Wednesday Morning Crew.

I figure that for about 6 or 7 years, he was consistently running between 30 to 50 miles a week with me, which means he probably put over 10,000 miles on his paws.  You couldn't ask for a better running partner.  Stayed on trail (except to take a dump, always did that off trail).  Waited for you if he got to far ahead.  And never chased the wildlife on runs.

He probably put another few thousand miles on those paws hiking the trails and mountains of Colorado.  He summited 13 14er's with me.  I really thought I would have another summer with him, so he could bag a few more peaks.   He loved the mountains.  He loved camping.  He loved trying to get into my sleeping bag, which didn't quite work out very well.

Happy Camper.

We won the inaugural Rocky Dog 5K Trail Race at the Vail Mountain games in 2011.  We defended our title in 2012.  But last year, we fell to the young pups.  And also when I started to see the age set in.  The muzzle was mostly gray now.  He started to have a harder time hanging for more than a few miles on a run.  By last Fall, he was semi-officially retired from running.  But our adventures at the mountain games earned him more pub including this Eukanuba ad in Outside magazine.

And last Fall he had another close call.  Over the years he seemed to be the punching bag.  He was bit 4 times, resulting in 3 trips to the vet or ER.  He also ate a full bottle of arthritis medicine (that was for my roommate's dog).  That resulted in a trip to the ER and getting his stomach pumped.  Then last year, when I was gone to run in Switzerland, Brisco found himself stuck in Lyons during the epic floods.  And again he found a way to get in front of the cameras, ending up shown on local news being unloaded from National Guard trucks that were used to evacuate the town.

Then he showed up in the Weather Channels documentary on the flood (Disaster in the Rockies) being loaded into the trucks.  In some ways it is quite amazing that he escaped all these episodes with only a few scars.  

But the thing I will miss the most is my lap dog.  When our day of adventures came to an end, he just wanted to be with you.  Curled up with you.  At times this wasn't exactly convenient, but he didn't care.  When I came home from work, he would be there to give a hug.  He loved hugs.  I will miss his soft ears.  I will miss his out of control wagging tail.  The tail that I think did its own thing and caused his butt to wiggle and shake.  I will miss how proud he seemed to be with a bone in his mouth.   I will miss his obsessiveness with tennis balls.  I will miss the completely unconditional love he gave everyone.  

I will miss my friend.  

Click here for a photo album of Brisco thru the years, from pup to old man.