Bye Bye Balou

Our sweet "little puppy" died on Sunday. Taft and I have decided that we are just jinxed when it comes to our dogs and March. Germ died March 31, and now Balou! Stinkin Germany...(we like to just blame our random problems on being over here.) Anyway, we were just hanging out after church waiting for our home teachers to come, and Balou got up off his bed and walked towards Taft, and then just collapsed. Taft and I started laughing cause we had no idea what was going on and thought he was just being weird. But then he started shaking and whimpering and by the time I got over to him, he had already stopped breathing and I watched his eyes roll back in his head. By the time we realized he'd had a heart attack, he was already gone. I guess he was getting pretty old for a Dane, and heart attacks are very common, but it was just such a surprise.

It's been a very bittersweet ordeal for us. We've been trying for months to find a new family for him since we can't take him when we move in May. We've had several families all lined up, but when it comes time for them to come get him, it's always fallen through. So we decided that Balou just didn't want to go to another family. We were down to the wire with finding a new home, and were about ready to just give him away in the next week or so. While we are very relieved that we have found a home for him, it freakin sucks. We lost another member of our family. While I most definitely will not miss the drool and slobber all over EVERYTHING and the nasty dog breath, I'll really miss his giant hugs and how he'd always come cuddle with me when he knew I was sad or scared. We got Balou a few months before Taft went to Iraq, so me and him have quite the bond. I was pregnant with Parker at the time and Balou would spend the majority of the day with his head on my belly feeling Parker kick, and snuggling me while I cried.

We'll sure miss our big goober of a puppy, and can't wait to see him again.