Lassie teaching puppy Petal how to kick back and wait for the rest of the family to come out of the grocery store.
I miss watching the two of you play together. I miss watching your silly collie games and watching you interact with each other. I miss seeing you two snuggled together. I miss everything, Lassie.
Today we are joining the Throwback Thursday blog hop hosted by Dolly the Doxie and DOGthusiast.
The other day an Instagram user was browsing through my photos and liking loads of them. It made me smile and cry: happy tears and sad tears. They liked a bunch of old Instagrams, many of which included Lassie. They were photos I hadn’t seen in awhile, so to have them pop up in my notifications was a lovely, if not bittersweet, surprise.
I thought I would share a few of my favorites.
1: Lassie randomly decided to lay his head across my chest and press his face against mine. So soft and so warm… I had no complaints.
2: Lassie snuggled up with me again. He was the best snuggler in the world. I miss those snuggles so much. He kept me warm and made me smile.
3: This one still cracks me up! Petal decided to put Lassie’s thick mane to use: as her leg rest! Haha.
4: I miss this face. I miss it so much. This is the “Try and take my ball.” face, “Try and take it. I DARE you!” He’d growl and grumble and chomp on that ball, showing you just how fun and awesome it was and oh, don’t you just want it so bad?! Then you’d reach for it and he dodge you faster than you could blink and he’d take off running. Such a tease!
Petal misses you too, Lassie. I can tell by the way she looks for you when she hears your name or even just a word that sounds like your name. She’s doing this less as time goes on, but just the other day someone said a word that sounded like your name and she stopped what she was doing and turned around to look for you.
She’s taking good care of me though. I often think of her as my “Therapist” or “Grief Counselor”.
Thank heaven for photos and for my tendency to photograph everything, every moment. I couldn’t imagine not getting to see your face at all anymore. You’re my wallpaper on my iPad so I can see your face everyday. Of course it’s not the same as seeing you face to face was, but it’s something.
I love you, Lass.
Today we are participating in the Throwback Thursday blog hop hosted by Dolly the Doxie and DOGthusiast.
I wish you could come home Lassie.
I miss running my fingers through your incredibly soft ear fluff and running my finger along your long snout.
Today we are joining the Throwback Thursday blog hop hosted by Dolly The Doxie and DOGthusiast.
One of the very many things I miss about you is your incredible, infectious smile Lassie. I miss waking up to it every morning and being greeted by it every time I return home or just randomly through out the day. <3
Today we are joining the Throwback Thursday blog hop hosted by Dolly the Doxie and DOGthusiast.
My sweet boy pretending like he’s actually going to bring me the ball and let me have it.
A close up of Ella’s incredible eye. One of my favorite pictures of her.
I miss them both dearly. I can tell Petal does too.
Today we are joining the Throwback Thursday blog hop hosted by Dolly the Doxie and DOGthusiast.
I know last week I said I was going to blog about the first dogs my family owned, but I haven’t written that post yet (oops) and I don’t have time to write it right now (double oops). Sorry! I won’t be able to write it next week either, but one of these days I will.
Hopefully… 😉
I’ll make it up to you all by sharing two three puppy pictures of Lassie.
Lassie, December 8 2004, his first day with me. We’re on our way home after picking him up from the airport. To Lassie’s left (your right) sits my younger brother and to his right is where I sat. My Mom, in the passenger’s seat, took this picture. It’ll always be a favorite of mine.
Lassie’s first bed! Brand new, still has the tag on it and everything, and he was already trying to destroy it.
Yes, he did eventually succeed and I came home to find the bed very much destroyed one day.
Brat.
But did you see those pink toes of his?! To die for. So. Dang. Cute.
February 2005, mouthing off to the camera. He was a talkative one (I have yet to meet a quiet Collie, lol).
I miss him.
That’s the best way to describe how I’m feeling, yet it doesn’t sound strong enough.
Or his Uncle, maybe, since Tal was our dog, my family’s dog, and Lassie was my dog. Tal was a Great Dane and Lassie a Collie so clearly they aren’t biologically related, but it doesn’t really matter because they’re bros. These two were total bros and I wish I could’ve seen them being reunited on the other side.
I’m fairly certain I have shared pictures of Talos, Tal for short, our Great Dane before. Tal was my family’s second dog, but I often think of him as our first. I’ll share more about that and Tal next week along with our legitimate first dog, Penelope.
Today I’m just going to share some adorable pictures of Lassie and Tal together.
When I brought Lassie home Tal was around the age of 3 or 4 years old. Tal was the gentle giant Great Danes are known to be, but he still put Lassie in his place and made sure he knew that he was there first and the boss. Lassie respectfully allowed him to believe that. Tal taught Lassie a lot of important lessons.
This photo, as well as the photos to follow, was taken in December 2004.
Tal taught two month old Lassie the simple pleasure of relaxing in the sun. He taught him that it was okay to lay back and relax a little. It wasn’t required that you be on the move constantly.
He taught him when it was acceptable to play dirty and when to play gently. Don’t bite too hard, kid, or the Great Dane will gobble you up. 😉
(It totally looks like Lassie is about to poop on Tal’s face, doesn’t it? In reality he had been trying to hop away but Tal grabbed him by his little chicken leg).
Tal taught Lassie that chewing on ears is fine so long as you don’t chew it off.
Tal also taught Lassie that if you’re a real pain in the butt all day and then decide to play tug with your Mickey Mouse and Pluto leash, your humans will allow this because at least you’re both being quiet.
(As you probably saw in the photo before, they destroyed said leash).
He taught Lassie about the importance of dental hygiene.
January 1 2005
Tal taught Lassie how to party hard on New Years and then sleep all day.
He taught him how to have fun with the Family Christmas pictures.
(Yeah, I cropped the family out, ’cause I’m rude like that. But they basically looked like this: in the first photo we were all smiling and trying to ignore the dogs, in the second photo all of us, with the exception of two of my sisters, were watching the dogs).
March 2005.
Tal also taught Lassie were all the best hiding spots were.
August 2005.
He also taught Lassie how to be his personal pillow when we went camping.
But most of all, Tal taught Lassie about my family and what being a member of our family was all about. He taught him to love us for who we are and to be extremely patient with us because despite our faults we always mean well.
Tal went to the Rainbow Bridge when Lassie was about 2 years old, shortly after Ella joined the family. I can say without a doubt that Lassie mourned over his brother. Ella was a great comfort to him, but no one could ever replace Tal. Now the three of them are all reunited on the other side.
Today we’re linking up with the Throwback Thursday Blog Hop hosted by Dolly the Doxie and DOGthusiast
We’re also joining the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Love is being owned by a Husky.
I’m thinking Thursdays, because of Throwback Thursday, are going to regularly be about Lassie and/or Ella. I miss them both terribly and though they’ve passed on that doesn’t mean I can’t blog about them anymore. I have a lot of memories and photos of them that I can share. Throwback Thursday is the perfect opportunity to do just that.
October 2007. I took this photo through the railing of our front porch steps. We were living in the mountains of Northern Utah at this time. A very beautiful place to live. Lassie loved to walk through the neighborhood with me. He introduced me to kind people by being a wonderful conversation starter. He scared away the kids that picked on me by being a very loud barker. Little did they know the worst he would’ve done to them was poke them with his snout. He always knew when I was upset and he always knew exactly how to cheer me up. We were each other’s best friend. We did almost everything together and we were rarely seen apart. I didn’t fit in with the kids my age in our neighborhood, but I had Lassie and his friendship was the most loyal and loving friendship I will ever have. He changed me forever and will always be a huge part of who I am. Which is why this blog was made with him at the forefront of my mind.
July 2007. Ella often looked like she was smiling! She was a happy dog and as a puppy she was pretty laid back. Her vet loved her so much that he often asked me if he could keep her. Ella liked people during her early years, but she much preferred the company of her fellow canines. She didn’t come to love being rubbed and petted and doted on by us humans until she was 2 years old. Until then Ella spent most of her time with other dogs. We almost always had a neighbor’s dog hanging out at our house. She had a “boyfriend” who lived next door (and is now at the Rainbow Bridge with her) named Grizzly. Grizzly loved Ella so much that he dug a hole under our fences so he could come over whenever he wanted to visit her. We were really good friends with his humans, so he knew us well and his family always knew where he was when he went “missing”. Ella was hard not to fall in love with. She radiated so much love and happiness most of the time. Most of the time because she certainly had her “back off!” moments, but we’re all allowed those moments.
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Also, Petal wants to tell you all that we’re finally expecting some snow. I’ve told her not to get her hopes up because we’ve been “expecting” snow a few times now and got nothing. But my weather app says there is a 100% chance of precipitation tonight, so we’ll see.
Snow? For me? I hope so! Photo from December, when we had lots of snow.
We’re having very dark and stormy skies today. The sun has been gone all day and it feels like it’s been the same time all day. I’m not gonna lie, I love it. I associate this weather with venturing out in my coat and mittens and with Petal happily trotting beside me. With going back inside to get warm and cozy beneath the blankets with a mug of hot chocolate in my hand and a view of snow falling in a beautiful flurry from the sky. It feels like the world slows down a little and I like that.
But I don’t like mud. So I’m hoping for lots of snow, if we do, indeed, receive some.