The Dog with the Crazy Ears

Two days ago Mark and I had to make the hardest decision we've ever made to let our sweet puppy go. About a week ago we started to notice he wasn't being himself. He refused to eat, was drinking large amounts of water, having accidents in the house, and seemed very spacey and confused most of the time. After two rounds of blood work and an ultrasound, we were told that Murphy's liver was failing due to a shunt that he was most likely born with. Within a matter of 48 hours it was as if he aged 10 years. He couldn't run, couldn't walk straight, and hadn't had anything to eat in 5 days. It was devastating to see our 2 1/2 year old puppy that way. When the vet called with the blood results and recommended that we put him down, our hearts broke into pieces. 

Murphy was our first dog. He was the wackiest, quirkiest dog I have ever known, and I loved every minute we had with him. I feel like he did as much in his short 3 years as some dogs get to do in a full lifetime. When we lived in a one bedroom apartment and both had an hour commute the first year of his life, most people thought we were a little crazy. We didn't know he was going to be that big when we adopted him from the shelter, but he just kept growing. There wasn't a single day that went by that we didn't take him on a hike, bike ride, long boarding, or to the dog park..... no matter what the weather was.  

My favorite memory of Murph is the one day that we tried to skip taking him somewhere. It was my 25th birthday. We hadn't gone out on a weeknight in so long and decided this one time he would be ok if we went to dinner to celebrate. We laid in bed that night regretting our decision to go to dinner instead of get him some exercise, as he ran around the room whining and refusing to let us sleep. Finally at 11:30 pm we loaded him up in the car with our long boards and went to the church parking lot. For the next hour he pulled us around in the dark on our boards and couldn't have been happier. It began to rain, but we didn't care. I just sat down on my board and laughed so hard as he pulled me through the rain. 

Murphy will always be part of our family. Even if we didn't get to spend as much time with him as we wanted to, I'm so glad we chose to rescue the funny shy puppy from the shelter that day. He always made us laugh, kept us active, and loved us in his silly way. 

All About Murph from Sunlight and Sound on Vimeo.