In my life I've lost two dogs that I loved dearly: my childhood dog, Fred and as of today, my dog of my teenage/college/life transitions years, Chip. Both were labs, and both were just as ornery as labs get.
The thing about dogs is, they fill that place in your soul that no human can. It's that unconditional love, devotion, and loyalty that makes them the best companion of all. I am crying as I write this, but selfishly. I know it was time. It wasn't fair to keep her here when her body had given up.
We got Chip in 2000, when she was 4 months old. I was working at Media Play and didn't even know that I'd come home to this wonderful dog. She was hiding under the kitchen table and we were trying to get her to come out. She eventually did, and I remember holding her in my lap, petting her as we talked about what to name her. She was a chocolate lab, so something along the lines of her color kept getting tossed about. We decided on Chocolate Chip, or Chip. Chip was a lover, a fighter, a protector, a friend, a hunter, and just as playful as a pup even when she was 13 years old.
It occurred to me tonight that I will never get to call her into the hall, and make her lay with me. I think she liked to lay with me, but she would get annoyed after a few minutes and try to claw me to death. But in those few minutes we were laying together, I felt like I was home.
I also thought about how I am never going to see her try to sneak. Dogs are meant to be well trained in my family and Chip was very aware of rules and boundaries. One of my favorite memories of her will always be her "whale jump" onto the couch. She was told "No paws on the couch." Instead of jumping onto the couch with her paws, she'd tuck them back and look like a whale jumping out of the water as she tried to reach us on the couch. She still got in trouble for that.
I also thought about how, for the first time in 13 years, I will have a spring where I am not encouraging Chip to hunt. Chip was a hunter, mostly moles, but she'd hunt anything really. The best is when we would say, "Get it Chip! Get it!" Chip would run faster, sniff harder, and dig faster to get the moles.
Chip was so strong and playful, typical lab. One of our favorite games with her was to take a rope and play tug of war. I remember her pulling my brother down the hall, dead weight! She was a beast!
Chip always had ear issues and one of her favorite things was to have her ears rubbed. Sitting at my parents house now, without being knocked over by Chip's massive head looking for an ear massage will definitely be different. The days will be different without her here. No more tug of wars, no more ear massages. No whale jumps or awkward cuddle-fests on the floor. A piece of my heart belonged to a chocolate lab named Chip; a part of my heart that she earned when I was 17, knowing that it would only end in death. I loved her anyway because she was my friend. She was the best dog I've ever had.
