Yesterday I laid on the floor with Moby. He slept while Emmett slept for his nap. I rarely get a chance to stop and gaze and my sleeping giant of a dog. So I took the time to really enjoy the peacefullness of his huge sandy colored body resting.
A little over 5 years ago this lab came home with us from Iowa. He slept on the back dashboard of the car. He cried when we left the farm he was born on and broke both of our hearts. He was so cute, we picked him out of two males in the litter. He had blue eyes, being half chocolate and half yellow. He was the playful one. I remember wishing I'd chosen the shy one once we arrived home and realized what a new puppy was like. He was a bundle of energy. Barely containable and all paws. "Huge paws" the vet, Dr Scott, said "He'll be big". And he wasn't lying!
Moby grew all legs at first, then came the chest and finally the head. He has a huge head. His blue eyes eventually went to a soft brown, matching his sandy fur. His full size is now 105 lbs. He stands with his head at about my hip, and if he jumps up on two paws, he's easily at my shoulders.
Despite the high energy that young labs have, Moby was relatively laid back. Not that anyone ever believed us about that. He was all normal happy excited lab whenever someone came to visit. Dr Scott calls him Wild Man. But he'd settle down nicely at home at least. We started using baby gates to keep him out of a room or away from non-dog-loving folks. Because of his size we used to really clamp the gates down. Until one day I just set it up for the moment, and Moby stayed. To this day, he will not cross, jump, or push down a baby gate. Just set them against the door frame, and he'll stay.
Yesterday as I watched my beast sleep at the foot of my son's bed, I saw all the white fur that has come into his face. It started just under his eyes. Now, it's all around his eyes and down most of his snout. He gets anxious if we leave him at someone's house now. He's so attached to us, I don't think he likes the idea of us being gone and him not being at home. He takes more naps, is slower to get up, and is generally aging as you would expect. The thing is, I never expected he would age a bit.
His 5 year vet appointment is this morning. You'd think he would hate the vet, but not Moby! He loves everyone even if they've stitched his eye lids, cut off his boy-dogginess and poked him a million times. He can't wait to go to the vet. The very mention of Dr Scott and the dog is excited. That's probably because all the vet-techs adore him. This time though, Moby has some lumps on his belly, and a broken tooth we need to talk about. And the constant ear infections are getting worse, and more difficult to treat. He's slowing down in general and I'm worried he's getting stiff. He still jumps up on our high bed, but I know it's getting harder for him. His puppy frenzies are fewer and farther between and mostly he wants to cuddle with us. I have to face it, he's getting older.
5 years isn't that old, I realize. But for a dog his size we won't have the long years I had with my childhood dog. As I watched him slip into a dream about something, all twitching and snarling - running while laying, I prayed for a long time yet to come with my beast. I won't miss the fur all over the house or the butter being eaten off the kitchen counter, nor will Craig miss the dog mines in the back yard. But we'll painfully miss the dog on our feet, the walk-by kisses, and the excited dashes to the door for a walk. Plus, I'll horribly miss the moments like yesterday, that I can lay down in front of him and watch him sleep - my arm around his big neck. Contented that he has us, and we have him, and the world is right. At least our little corner of it.
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