Tucker Went to College

When Billy brought him to us on a weekend visit from school, we had been married for maybe about four months. Tucker had been part of a litter left to "hopefully get hit in the road" as a neighbor shared. So my brother, a college baseball player at the time, just had to find the puppy a home. After all this little guy was the scrawniest of the bunch, the one with the saddest look to boot.

We agreed to keep the absolutely adorable ball of fur for the weekend. As it turned out, we kept for him for that and every other weekend of the last six years. Up until this past Christmas Eve.

Then as one of Joe's sweet co-workers put it... Tucker went off to college.

We moved with Tuck to three different states and, despite our efforts to fix and train him, he managed to wreak havoc in each one. Even the sedatives we gave him did little to calm the process. As a way to forever etch him in our memory, we've created a top ten list for your laughing pleasure...

1. Destroying the early 1900's, original door of our rental. My dad had to barter services with a genius artisan who restored it!

2. Escaping from his crate on the screened in porch of that same rental, getting the door open, and trashing the place... from potting soil ground into the carpet to chewing up every one's bedroom shoes.

3. Digging like a maniac as if surely he had a long lost brother in China. We just wish he could have avoided the rental owner's prize-winning marigolds.

4. Eating the rubber backing off a rug by somehow figuring out how to scoot his crate tray back and methodically pulling the rug in with him one fiber at a time. This was our "Welcome to Virginia Beach" episode.

5. Getting overheated, after being outside in the early morning hours (because, of course, with his incessant jumping he knocked over the huge bucket of water we left for him), just a day after the rug incident. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars later, that was the official diagnosis... he was overheated.

6. Living with us in a one room hotel for close to four months upon our arrival to Tennessee. Shall we explain further?

7. Managing to ruin every single coverlet, quilt, or comforter we have ever owned. Finally we broke down after he was "successfully" trained to stay off our bed, and we bought a real deal bedding set. In a quick moment of decision I opted to let him in the house while we ran an errand, for fear that he would tear out the trash in the garage. Six words... red clay mud, comforter WAS white.

8. Attempting philanthropy... after all, why else would a dog shed enough hair to give to about a million other pups in need? We tried us some grooming once. Either he really didn't like it or he was foaming at the mouth for fun.

9. Exercising stubbornness that only a mother could {barely} love. No matter our efforts, he would not stop walking US or barking, barkING, BARKING! We actually recall the night he yapped through an entire two hour Bible Study. With a bark collar on. And the time he pulled me UP and OVER a patio table in pursuit of a backyard duck.

10. Peeing. On your tires. On our tires. On every one's tires. All. the. time.

He was protective to the end, though. I remember being pregnant with Hope and Joe being gone out of town a lot. Tuck would literally sleep over my belly and stand at attention with even so much as a click on the sidewalk outside. He loved to go running with Joe and would humor us as we danced around the room with him. When it was just the family, he'd curl up at our feet and roll over belly exposed. Then, as if the most calm and demure dog in the universe, he'd flatten his ears back and get this goofy grin. Just like he'd died and gone to Doggy Heaven.

Fact of the matter is, he's always needed the space to run and play and canine friends to keep him company. After a final prayer that we could find this for him, the next day a neighbor called with an offer to take him to a farm where a benevolent fella takes in dogs just like that.

Our last memory of him is jumping out of the back of the car and running free with a black lab at his side and miles of land stretched out before him.

So long, buddy. We hope you remember how much we loved you and that you now have the life you were meant to lead.