His passing was very abrupt yet expected at the same time. He was already 16 years old, quite a respectable age. Neither I nor my mom, who, in fact, deserves a lot of credit for caring for him, see age as the scale of how close an animal is to the rainbow bridge; the raw health scale is what matters. Sadly, Hachi was in the midst of entering a state of hardship, particularly around the physical aspects, as he was beginning to look thin.

Before one wraps their head around the idea that this isn't exactly fond, think this: despite Hachi's apparent state, he always barked and jumped to points where he falls as if he turned the clock back on himself. He would always run around the house when food was coming his way!

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Hachi has a brother. His name is Papi. They shared a few great moments. I remember a time when both of them were shaved a considerable amount by a PetSmart groomer. They were sure pleasurable to pet!

Hachi and Papi also ate each other's birthday food when their special time came around. I think it was initially Papi who ate the remainder of Hachi's meal, not even offering the courtesy to ask for it! How rude can he be?

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Hachi used to always bark at me as I chased him around the house. I thought it was of change for the better that he stopped doing that when he got older, but now, I feel as if that may have been the mark of his vitality. Without that, his personality seemed drained...

But looking back at it, as mentioned before, he ran away from me back then, now he runs toward his bowl of food with excellent enthusiasm!