To remember a beautiful and special dog...

We met him one day as we were headed to swim in the creek...he was pretty, but he was dirty and covered in ticks and fleas, but of course we still wanted to pet him. Well, he was laying in the front yard when we got back home, and Daddy told us that if we were going to play with him then he needed a flea/tick bath. As we had been sitting out front petting him I commented that his coat looked like crushed up Oreos so we should name him...

Oreo

We put ads in the paper, but nobody came to claim him, so with us he stayed. He was the sweetest, gentlest dog. He would let my little sister hang on his collar when she crossed the yard after she had just learned to walk, and he'd stop when she fell down. We taught him to jump up with his front legs on a person's chest, but no matter how hard you tried you could never get him to jump up on a small child. Just a month ago some friends visited...and as sweet as ever he knew that he had to be gentle with the baby...he just knew

He almost never barks, and he is so friendly that Daddy said he would walk right up to a bad guy. But whenever we were out in the pasture with the cows and he thought they were too close then he would take off barking and chase them farther away. We joke about how Oreo would wag his back end off someday. When excited not only his docked tail wagged, it was literally his whole body. He was always happy to see us...he literally reveled in our attention. And he was just like a puppy. In the past few years he's slowed down a bit, but not much, and he always wanted to romp with us. But he was the most expressive dog I have ever known, he seemed to have emotions too. He always knew when we were going on a long trip. He would lay on the porch and mope. I am serious, you can see it in his face, he would walk around with his head down, and only half wag his tail when we talked to him. He sometimes looked so pathetic when it was rainy, cold or during a thunderstorm.

Oreo was always around when we were outside (unless we were shooting the guns) he would lay on the ground with us, play in the yard, let us drag him around in our games, chase him around for fun, go running or go on long rambles...always the companion, always the friend. He was always there, guarding his flock. There was almost never a time that I stepped out the door that he wasn't there to greet me...
He was a little sneaky too though. Oreo was the perfect gentleman...as long as a person was watching. If he was given scraps he would always wait very politely while the cats ate, but whenever he thought you were gone he would push them out of the way and eat the rest of it! As soon as you appeared again he sat down and waited.
Cute, sweet, gentle, goofy, pathetic, beautiful, happy, loving, faithful, special...that hardly even begins to describe our dog.

For almost the past ten years he's been with our family. He would let the cats curl up around his feet, he would catch a chicken for us with his paw or mouth but never hurt them, he'd try to do tricks for food. Though unfixed, he thought the whole world was his friend and he didn't act like he had any property rights. He never really wandered anywhere, he always stayed close to us. But I guess the fact that we lived half a mile off the road helped.
A lady once came to our house who used to breed and raise Australian Shepherds. She told us that she didn't know why somebody ever dumped him...Oreo was a perfect specimen of the Australian Shepherd breed except that his eyes were brown instead of blue. But then, I always liked brown-eyed dogs better... He really was beautiful. I would look at magazines about Aussies, and most of them were not nearly as pretty as he was. I was proud of him...he has been a part of our family for so long...and I love him.

Well we moved about a year ago...and we live right on the highway. We worried about Oreo, because he wasn't afraid of cars. This last Tuesday I was sitting at the computer as Mom and my siblings put dinner on the table. Dad came in, gathered us all and said he had some sad news. "Oreo was just out on the highway...he was run over by a truck...and he's gone." Everything that happened that evening is a blur, a dream, surreal...yet it is all crystal clear at the same time...and I'll never forget it.

We ran to him, we sat beside him, cried, and stroked him. He couldn't be gone...it wasn't real...it seemed he had always been there. Oh, it hurt...a lot. I didn't want to let him go. Greg, Jess and I, we sat for a long time, struggling with the reality of it. Jessica later said, "Heather and I cried while we petted him, and Greg rubbed his belly like he always did. Heather, Greg and I were the ones who took it hardest when Ruth died, and probably this time too. We waited 'til Monica got home to bury him, and by that time it was dark. But seeing Oreo on the ground was the hardest. You can't know what it's like until you have experienced it. It's awful!!!" I couldn't leave him, I couldn't let him lay there on the grass all alone. I stayed there...two hours I think, mourning, struggling, and waiting 'til Monica got home. We put him beside Ruth, just inside the grove, and we told him goodbye...

Every time I drive into the driveway, or step out the door, or even if I'm sitting in my room I get a lump in my throat realizing he's not there. Part of me can't believe it really happened. Part of me says it had to be a dream, but yet I know it was true...because there is a pile of dirt, his collar on the table......and he doesn't come to the door every time I go outside...

I guess Jessica said it well when she said, "God brought Oreo to us as a stray, to love and care for. When He did this He gave us a piece of His creation that was wonderful. It was a blessing having Oreo with us and there can never be another dog that will replace him. I just have to remember him as he was, not as he is, and thank God for this wonderful blessing, and for the time that we had him."