TO BEHR: 20 MAY 2005
ALWAYS BY MY SIDE
UNTIL THE VERY END
LOYAL, LOVABLE,
PROTECTIVE,
PLAYFUL
FUN
&
FOREVER IN MY HEART!
Love,
Mom
21 May 2005

I miss everything about Behr. He was different than any dog I ever had. I have fallen in love with Leonbergers. I am not too concerned about their physical problems as I am with enjoying another bouncing, full of life and fun Leo. With every pet comes the responsibility of seeing them through their entire life.

What will I miss:
• Behr's Woo-Woo-Wooing us when we went out without him and we came back. He was scolding us. We shouldn't go out without our Leo. We never know how much time we have with them. Someone just died recently while on a Sunday drive around Lake Whatcom. Their dog died with them. It was unexpected. That is how life is. You don't know how long you really have.
• Behr coming home with my h after being gone for nearly two weeks.
• Behr at home with me in PR.
• Training Behr and watching him have fun doing it. He loved to train. It showed in everything he did.
• Looking in h's pocket to see if there was a treat for him.
• Nosing out my purse for a treat.
• The way his tail went around in a circle when he was happy to see you.
• Bouncing up and down on all fours all the up until the week before he died.
• His presence in the back of the Suburban. He was always with us, ALWAYS BY OUR SIDE. Several times during the last couple of days on our trip I've looked in the back hoping to see him there. Gosh Behr, I'll miss you so much. You were a very big presence in my life.
• His wonderful dog hair all over the place: On our clothes, on the bed, on the carpet, in the car, on our bed, everywhere.
• Behr learning to woof in different degrees of loudness. Behr could speak in a loud voice, woof in loud voice and woof in varying levels of loudness to quietness. Behr could woof without making a sound. He would move his mouth but never make a sound. That was incredible for a dog with such a huge, deep voice and a very loud voice to be able to woof without making a sound, which we called a Stealth Woof. Then he could woof with very little sound, a little more, then a little more.
• He would also speak to me making different noises. He was talking to me.
• After he got cancer he got demanding in some ways. And I used those opportunities to teach him to control his voice. He did learn that.
• Nosing the water bowl so we would know it was empty and needed to be filled or that it was dirty.
• Being able to open the front door and go on a walk-about whenever he wanted to.
• Show me! He knew how to tell me what he needed.
• Running around the yard really fast up until February of this year.
• Sleeping at the bottom of the bed and intertwining his legs with ours. It is the reason we got a California King-sized bed-so we could all fit on the bed.
• Sleeping next to us when he got cancer so he could be really close.
• Buying him special sofas so he could be comfortable.
• Behr always being more interested in us when we came home than going potty. What new and interesting treats for him did we buy? Where had we gone?
• His love for frozen grapes for the last three months of his life.
• Leonberger hair in my clothes, in my mouth, in my socks, on the carpet, on the floor, on the brushes, on the bed, in the lint collector on the dryer, in the vacuum cleaner, in the car and everywhere I go.
• His playfulness. He loved to play like a puppy all the way through until there were only days before he couldn't do this life any more.
• HIS WONDERFUL PUPPY KISSES. ALWAYS A KISS.
• THE MORNING KISSES! I WILL SO MUCH MISS THOSE MORNING KISSES.
• BEHR SNEAKING A LICKY WHEN YOU BEND OVER.
• BEHR SNEAKING A LICKY WHEN YOU HAD TO GET ON THE FLOOR.
• If I stuck my tongue out and panted Behr would start playing with me, bowing and get goofy.
• Purchasing all those special stuffed toys he so much loved.
• His pestering for treats.
• When it was time to eat I would say to Behr, "it's time for num-nums and he would follow me to the food bin. I'd get the food and he'd wait in the hallway. Then I come back to the kitchen and mix it up with some treat. Behr always knew he get something in his food. I remember when I ran out of salmon and had to use tuna fish. He loved that more than salmon. It was funny how his tastes would wax and wane.
• His little woofs and big woofs and his ability to modulate his voice
• Playing my "Find It" game with him. I will really miss this because we spent so many wonderful hours playing that game. It was pure fun teaching him and rewarding him. He loved playing the game and would pester me to do it.
• His willingness and eagerness to train no matter what. Even two weeks ago he wanted to train. He wanted to please. He wanted to learn and all the way until the end.
• His waving and learning to do both paws.
• When Behr got the squeaker out of the sheep skin toys he wanted me to play with them with him. I would squeak it and Behr would nose it to make squeak again. It was a fun game and I knew he was poking fun at me. Pun intended!
• Shaking with his right paw.
• His little habits of keeping both my h and I in his eye sight. (I do believe when he saw us both together once again, he finally decided to let go of this life. It was his signal to go. I could see a change in him. And when he saw my stuff being put into the truck he knew we were leaving all together. And the last time he was there we kept him at home. NEVER AGAIN WILL I KEEP MY LEO AT HOME. NEVER! ALWAYS BY MY SIDE, ALWAYS!
• Always by my side. Always.
• That is all Behr ever wanted, was to be by our side. And I gave him that so many, many times.
• Behr's love for the snow. He loved to walk, run, play and even lay in the snow. He especially enjoyed the snow this last season. Although we didn't have much he enjoyed laying in it. I think he was running a fever and the snow made him feel all cool on his belly.
• How his jowls would flop in the wind as we drove down the highway. Ever since his accident with the his jaw breaking when he was a puppy, he never put his head out the window very far. He just rest it on the window with his nose somewhat out the window.
• Behr always got the shady spot. We would go out of our way to make sure he was in the shade. We would hoof it for him.
• How he hated the water yet he supposed to be a water lover. He loved the beach though. He loved to go to the beach.
• Behr's goofy sense of humor.
• Sometimes he would steal the whole thing of broccoli off the kitchen counter top and then prance off with it.
• Behr's prancing when he got his celery stalk.
• His love for fresh strawberries. Behr would steal the ripe strawberries off my huge patch in the front yard. The patch is now 15 X 15 feet (2005).
• When I went away in 1998 for 9 months he welcomed me back without any judgment. He came up in the front seat of the Suburban (the brown one) and laid on me with his paws on my lap. He wouldn't stop kissing me.
• Thanksgiving 2003 Behr decided the trash compactor was getting more than its fair share of the turkey scraps. He planted his body right in front of it and held open his mouth! We laughed about that incident for years and still do.
• He loved small animals and played with Annie our kitty, slept with Annie and chased Annie but never once stepped on her. Behr's agility kept him from hurting a cat that was less than 10% of his size.
• Loved all the small children on our block. Behr would go on walkabouts to see them. They would walk down the street with this dog who was up to their waists. When they were done playing with him they would bring him back home.
• Sometimes the neighbor kids would knock on our door and ask if Behr could come out to play.
• Behr's love for my homemade, fresh ground, whole wheat oatmeal bread. Behr would sleep by the stove and wait for the bread to come out of the oven. I would always give him his own slice of warm bread fresh from the oven.
• Behr was the microwave alarm. The bread done alarm. The something burning on the stove alarm. He was my little helper in the kitchen.
• In the end Behr's favorite foods were broccoli, celery, yams, and frozen red seedless grapes. Of course he loved salmon and duck.
• Behr's heavy, heavy weight upon my body when he laid on top of me. What a joy it was to be totally flattened and owned by a 200 pound Leo!
• Behr's energy to go on and on.
• Behr loved to rock the the Lazyboy Recliner with his nose when the cat was in it. It was a game. He wanted the cat to run and knew she didn't like being rocked by watching us rock her in the chair and her reaction to us.
• Behr learning to accept new people when I didn't think it could be done. He did and shocked me.
• Behr's shear size was magnificent. He was beautiful in his size. I don't have any problems with big dogs any more. I LOVE THEM!!!
• How Behr would remind us about the treats he gets on his road trips. We had the Highway 99 turn the corner treat, the Highway 101 treat and the border treats. Then it was any slow down, any corner turned as he got more demanding due to his cancer.
• How Behr protected his family and his home.
• I will be forever grateful to have had Behr in my life for all the ways he was. For everything he ever did, whether bad or good, it was all the best experience I've ever had raising, training and loving a dog. I learned a lot and he taught me how to be a more kinder and gentler human being. Thank you Big Guy, Little Guy, Pumpkin Puppy, Little Puppy - Behr.

I miss you so much Behr. I lost you nearly 8 months ago and still I can't get over this loss. I will love you forever. You will always be known as my first Leonberger. You will be the hallmark for the rest of the Leos I own. Thank you for the life, love and presence you gave me. I will never forget you. You will always remain by my side.