Happy Heavenly Birthday Pup!

We might have been his whole world, but now he’s left a big hole.

Today would have been Jaxon’s fourteenth birthday, but nearly a year ago our darling Weimaraner went his morning walk and retired to his crate as soon as he came back into the house where he would never walk again. Often times people wonder if they made the right decision to put down a dog or not, but Jaxon ultimately made his own choice and nine hours later he crossed the rainbow bridge during an emergency vet visit. We knew, he knew. So on his first birthday on the rainbow bridge, we remember him fondly. After all, he was more than a dog, he was family.

Jaxon was a runt of his litter born in October 2010 and he ended up at my house two months later when his adopter realized that he could not take care of him only after one day. I was a cat person who never had an indoor dog so my cat and myself had the task of raising a pure breed crazy dog. It was quite the challenge at first, but we all adapted. A few days after he arrived at my door, I took Jaxon to vet where it was quickly discovered that he had a birth defect with urinary track that need surgery. Within his first year of life, he earned himself a degree in obedience school and had his first major surgery of more to come.

Jaxon eventually move with us less than two years later when my husband and I moved in together. I brought a dog and cat into the relationship while he brought his two dogs. Now my canine found himself around other dogs and was no longer the only male of the house. Jaxon enjoyed the fun of walking trails, chasing squirrels and was a big old lap dog in his spare time. We quickly learned that he was shy of children when the girls were born, often spending a lot of quiet time on his designated spot on the couch or in his crate. When Jaxon discovered that the kids and high chairs meant dropped food, he was all in on being a family dog.

In the following years, Jaxon would have more urinary track surgeries and eventually outlive the other two dogs and the cat, with two of them dying of old age within a four week span. Those losses were hard on him and he spent a lot of time on the couch, pouting. So exactly after a month Jaxon became the sole pet of the house, we adopted our tuxedo kitten on Valentine’s Day and when I say this dog sprang back to life, it was an understatement. This kitty was born to a feral mom and she was standoffish except at mealtimes as well as time for bed when she wanted to cuddle. Jaxon had no boundaries with this young tuxie and taught her everything that he knew just like our previous cat had shown him like begging and taking a piece of the couch. They would peacefully coexist with the kids for the next two years until that fateful day when Jaxon’s body decided that the end had come.

My girls have been missing our beloved Jaxon, but when it is a good time, we will likely adopt again. They always ask to pet Weimaraners in their path and love tell the owners about our guy. Jaxon definitely left a hole in our hearts, but left great lasting memories!