When my husband came home from his last deployment he bought himself the dog that he always wanted, a german shepherd. Little did he know that his Echo would soon become my best buddy.
In 2012, if you had asked me if I wanted another dog, my answer would have been no. Puppies are cute and all but they grow up. I thought our 2 golden’s were more than enough for our family of 6. My husband, on the other hand, thought differently. After his Afghanistan deployment, he and our boys drove across Texas and picked up the german shepherd puppy he had reserved while he was deployed. We had talked about an all black puppy but in the cupholder of my husbands Jetta, a tiny sable german shepherd puppy came home to live with us.
He was a cute, little puppy but, he grew up fast. My husband trained him, he had the basics and a few other commands down pat. He was smart as anything too. He could even turn on the water at the spicket outside! Once he was just over a year old, he became my running partner. He would run much farther than most german shepherds would, especially a long hair one like he was. I think the furthest we ever went together was 14 miles. When he saw me change into my running stuff he always got excited. When I wouldn’t take him my husband said he just laid by the front door waiting for me to come back.
When my nephew met him, he thought he looked like a bear and from then on he was Echo Bear.
He had a thing for trying to herd my niece and nephew, they were part of his pack and he had to keep them safe. He was protective of us, especially us girls. He was always at my side and under my feet. He followed me all over the house. He was my constant companion. He even would look out the front window to greet me every time I came home.
When I was outside in my garden, he would be chasing dragonflies and birds. He carried large rocks around like balls and would always sneak them inside. He was always ready to run along the back of the fence with the neighbor’s dog. He was always happy and full of energy, or so we thought.
This past Saturday, our Echo Bear crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We don’t know why or have a cause. We do know he had been sick and hiding it well and whatever it was caused his heart to have an arrhythmia that they could not correct. An arrhythmia that was killing him.
In the few days, he has been gone his absence is well noted. There have been tears, hugs, and many, I miss Echo’s uttered. We are grieving his sudden loss. It is honestly harder than any loss of a pet I’ve ever experienced. That said, there will be no, how I got over my dog’s loss blog post or 10 tips to help you grieve the loss of your pet. If you are looking for that please check out Google. We all grieve in our own ways, there is no right or wrong. There is no best way to talk to your child about it. I can tell you right now, I have four kids and they each are handling it differently. I only write this only out of transparency and my love of my Echo Bear. I wanted to let those that follow this blog know what happened to the German Shepherd I shared pictures of so often.
His time on this earth was short but he will remain in our hearts forever. Rest in Peace, my Echo Bear.
