Cherish every moment

This is the second attempt I am making to write this. It is really hard to put this down, but I want to share it here.

I know that most folks wont understand, but since I am posting this in “Dogs on the Appalachian Trail” forum I suspect the odds are better.



I lost my friend of 11 years yesterday, and words can not tell you how that makes me feel. I have been very fortunate to have some great dogs in my life, but Peter really was a great one.


It is not a coincidence that if you look at my last post here, it was to brag about how well behaved he was. He really was amazing, and I never took him for granted.


Some would say I “rescued” him off of the side of a highway when he was 6 weeks old all those years ago… the truth is that it is more accurate to say he rescued me.

He was not afraid of much. It is interesting that as I type this, there is a lightening storm flashing around me… one of his only fears. Knowing it can not scare him now is a comfort… now I am crying again. I want to tell the story….

He rode up to Mississippi with me this weekend to camp at Tishomingo State Park while I had some medical treatments. He loved to hike and camp and was a perfect companion. He had traveled on my small boat to the Bahamas and gone on many adventures… he carried his own pack and was the perfect traveler. People liked him, and even non-dog people commented on how well behaved he was. My general policy was that if I could not take him, I did not want to go. It was a policy that served me well and my only regrets are where I disregarded it.


We drove back and he was (as usual) content to sleep and look out the window. We got home in the evening and although we had been on the road all day we went for our normal 6.5 mile walk. He gets lots of time off leash on the walk, and chased rabbits as is his custom. We got home, and he finished off the bottom of a carton of cottage cheese for me (the last bite of sandwich, or whatever I was eating ALWAYS belonged to him).

We settled in for the night, and I slept soundly with him on watch as always. Yesterday morning though, he did not eat his breakfast and I noticed his stomach was swollen. I sensed something was wrong so we went to the vet.

Apparently he had a tumor that had been growing on his liver, and started to bleed. The vet did an x-ray, then and ultrasound and finally exploratory surgery to learn the liver was so full of blood there was no possible way to save my best friend.

He allowed my unusual request to come into the operating room and hold Peter’s head as they administered the medication to stop his heart so I could tell him one more time just what a good boy he was and how thankful I was to have had him in my life.

He was 11, and I really thought we had much more time. The vet had said less then a month earlier that he was in terrific shape. We walk almost 200 miles a month, and he has had excellent care and feeding sine he was a pup.

No matter if you are a man or a pup, life is short.

Hike more, Sail more, Live more, Love more, Laugh more... do not let it pass un-noticed or taken for granted... .

Please cherish every moment.


Peace and Love,

Craig and Peter Dog.

(Clich here to see more pictures of a truly wonderful dog).