Farewell to a Friend

*Trigger warning: My dog passed yesterday. If you lost a friend recently, you might want to skip this.*

This is not going to be a funny or witty post. Just a reflection on the life of a friend. Yes, I know that animals are not people. But Dillon was a member of my family all the same. I need to cathart.

Right after adopting him. That's Lucy on the left

When we got him, he had already been twice abandoned at the shelter, so he always had issues. He was scared of other dogs (talking about you Ahsoka), strangers, deer, vacuums, brooms, leaves, and rain. But he was the most affectionate dog. As long as it was a member of the family: me, my wife, my wife's sister. A very small pack. We could never really get him comfortable around other people. We even brought in a professional pet behaviorist and she was stumped. "Just have people throw cheese at him when they come over to visit. He'll probably get used to them eventually." (Nope)

All he wanted to do all day was cuddle. He loved sitting in Meghan's lap. He loved pushing me out of my spot in the bed.

Yes, he did sleep in the bed. Don't judge.

He enjoyed the backyard. He had a special perch on the deck. He could stand there for long periods, waiting for our neighbor's dog Ahsoka to come out for their daily barking and jumping at the (reinforced) fence.

On guard

He's always watching

He could also climb trees (if properly motivated by those pesky squirrels).

Getting down was harder

Do other people do voices for their dogs? He had a deeper voice and and accent. He would pronounce "a" like the "ah" in father (He always wanted to be under the "blahnkets"). Do other people include their dog's name in song lyrics? We sang to him and about him many times a day. He had many names (all good boys do). The name he came with was Dillinger. We quickly changed that to Dillon. After that, there were all sorts of variations: Dilly, Dill Pickle, Sweet Dill, Pickle Pup, Buddy, Little Budder, and more recently, Lumpy.

This has been a rough month for him. I've never had a dog who had cancer. Mast cell tumors are particularly tricky since they produce a lot of histamine and make you need to scratch and itch constantly. He had a small tumor removed in the Spring and we had hoped that was it. It came back in July. He had to wear the "cone of shame" for the last few weeks to keep him safe.

And these cute Dill Pickle pajamas

Yesterday was the morning that we decided to let him go. The cancer had spread and it was finally getting too much for him. Banfield did a great job with letting us say goodbye. The rest of the day was rough. Little things kept reminding me that I'm never going to see him again.

• The wind used to scare him when it vibrated the front door in a certain way. When it happened, I looked around to comfort him and he wasn't there.
• I keep thinking that I hear his paws clicking on the tile.
• The Ring doorbell camera let us know that a package had been delivered, not Dillon's special "welcome". (Below is an actual delivery photo from Amazon. We're pretty sure that they had an internal memo to leave packages well away from the door)
  
• There was no one begging to go to bed at 9:00
• No one woke me up begging for a walk. I'll have to remind myself to do that.

He was a member of my family (his pack) for 9 years and we'll never forget him.

2015-2026