Sunday, January 9, 2011

Apple Fritters




Fritter 2002- 2011

A few days ago I lost my best canine friend Fritter.

Fritter was my first dog as an adult. I always had dogs growing up, but he was mine. (and Marks)

As soon as Mark and I moved in together I wanted a dog and chickens. We had adopted a 13 year old cat, but I wanted a dog. Badly. We agreed that after we got married we would start looking for a dog. A week after we got married we went to Thunder Bay ON for Marks' cousins wedding. I had been volunteering at our local SPCA for quite some time and I wanted to see what their shelters looked like compared to ours. Mark and I really didn't have much to do in Ontario so we decided to go to their local shelter to kill some time. Plus maybe we would see a dog we really liked.

We went in looking for a puppy, and the staff lead us past some cages right past this wiry, crazy eye browed and bearded dog to a little black Newfoundland pup. I know I wanted a pup, but I didn't want a huge dog so we said thanks, and  walked back past Mr. crazy hair and he literally did a cartwheel! We stopped to look at  him and he did a few more. Huh. He's cute I thought. But, a puppy, we wanted a puppy.

Mark and I left and drove around some more. Out of the blue Mark asked me what I thought of the crazy cartwheeling dog. I thought he was really cute. So did he. We went back and we were done for.

We took him outside where he didn't even care to meet us and we knew he was the dog for us.

I called WestJet to see if he could come home with us, and Mark called his aunt to see if he could stay at her house.

We explained that we were from out of town and the staff assured us that he had been in the shelter way too long (3 months) and they didn't care if we were from BC. The lady actually said she was glad that he would get a fresh start. His name was Eddie. He lived with a homeless lady and her cat. He had been taken away from her because they had become a nuisance to people. Another lady had adopted him and named him Buddy. One day while out for a walk they bumped into said homeless lady and she wanted him back. For some reason she gave him back to her. He ended up back at the shelter again after pestering customers at a donut shop. Cue the crazy couple from BC!

We found out all of this info after we paid for him and then were told that we couldn't adopt him because they found a microchip that they never noticed before. They had to contact his previous owner first. The lady behind the counter decided to pretend there was no chip and she let us go with him. She figured he just needed to get of Thunder Bay!

We drove right past the Robin's donuts where he had been picked up and they had a sign out front advertising a special they were having on apple fritters. We knew that had to be his name. Fritter.

He was an awesome dog, laid back, goofy, and loved everyone! I couldn't have asked for a better pet. A super dog right from the get go! (well after we convinced him to eat dog food!)

Fritter started getting sick about 3 years ago, and stumped all the vets and specialists that he saw. We pumped him up on steroids, and he improved, then deteriorated, improved, and then over the holidays just didn't seem to have it in him anymore. We talked to our vet and decided that it was time to let him go.

Fritter passed peacefully in our home, where he belonged.

I miss him.



 Kickin' it at the cabin

 Making a sick little girl feel better

5 comments:

Mrs. Merriman said...

Oh L... what a GREAT post!! Fritter will be missed. xoxo

HUGS!!

Christina said...

Ohh I am sorry to hear about that. Fritter looked like a great dog. He was so cute!

Cynthia F said...

Awww I'm so sorry for your loss xo

Not a Perfect Mom said...

oh, I'm so sorry...
how lucky he was to have found you guys...or rather for you to have found him

Brooke said...

I am so sorry Leanna! After loosing Athene just before Christmas I know how sad you are at the moment. Thinking of you! Feel free to stop on by for a cup of tea...we have lots of catching up to do :)