RIP Old Friend

I lost an old friend today. She was a loyal, happy soul who loved the beach and the park. She was always happy to see me and was as close with my wife and kids as she was to me.

Her name was Zoe and she's been my friend since she was very young.

Zoe was one of the best dogs I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. We got her--as we have with every animal--as a stray. She was a cute little puppy with ears way to big for her head. She was a mix between a German Shepherd and who knows what. She was a really bad little dog that chewed anything left on the floor and of course, that was one of the things we'll always remember fondly.

When we lived in San Diego, we used to take her to Dog Beach in Coronado, right outside the back gate of NAS North Island. My little dog had a habit of finding the biggest baddest dog on the beach and sniffing its butt. But not Zoe; Zoe went right for the water and would freak out until I threw her tennis ball into the surf.

Once when my brother and I were boogie boarding at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, we swam way out to where the sets were. We had to be a couple of hundred yards out. Anyway, we turn around and there's Zoe. She followed us all the way out and would've kept following us if we swam to Hawaii.

Zoe got old on me and it happened way too fast. She became slower and I just knew something wasn't right in the last week or so.

Today she passed and she was really sick...cancer.

My kids are devastated as they haven't really had to experience death until today.

Good luck in Dog Heaven Zoe and I hope they have beaches and tennis balls in there. I also hope that someone with infinite patience throws that ball in the water a hundred times a day.