Rainbow Bridge Memorial

Dearly missed by Lorean, John, Hunter and Brite Love

 How do you put just short of a decade’s worth of love in a few words? Dave was one of the finest dogs a person could know. He is gone, & our hearts are broken, yet the last ten years of memories of him, make me smile. He was a dog, who never took a misstep. Gentle with everyone & everything. I called him our saint. He was Brite’s rock, her pillow. Even though, through her insecurities, she strikes out at times, Dave accepted her. I can still hear the dirt clods hitting the house as they ran together on their *track* in the back yard.

When our granddaughter Hunter was born, in 2000, I wondered how the dogs would take to a baby in the house. Dave appointed himself, her guardian. When she was up at night, so was he, until she was safely and contentedly tucked back into her crib. As she grew, and was a toddler, starting to talk, when her dad brought her to our house & set her down, the first thing she would do is toddle over to Dave, and wrap her chubby little arms around his neck & just sigh “Dave”, like now her life was complete. As time went on, she called him her best friend, and truer friends there never were.

Dave did several years as a GPI ambassadog at booths. Many times, I had to inform people, this dog was ours and not going anywhere. He often came home reeking of cologne, with lipstick smears on his face and head, but he was ours from the tip of his ears, to the tip of his toes.

Though, Dave was featured in an article in Celebrating Greyhounds, had his picture in a few calendars, once made the Top Ten Best Dressed Pets in Seattle list, at the end of the day, he was our dog, Steady, dependable, Dave.
He was a mama’s boy. His eyes never left me when I was home. I often told people that I wished he was tiny & I could fit him in my pocket and carry him everywhere with me. At night, I knew I could just hang my hand over the edge of the bed, and he would be there in all his warmth and softness. As much as he was a mama’s boy, deep down I knew, I probably needed him, more than he needed me.

When there was a bowl of ice cream around, you could depend on Dave’s *ice cream face* being presented. From a sound sleep in the bedroom, he would wake up to run to lick John’s ice cream bowl at night.

In June of 1998, when we adopted Dave, he was very sick with Babesia. After much research, we treated him with Imizol, in February 1999. Before treatment, we didn’t know if he was going to make it to his fourth birthday. After treatment, he was a dog that glowed with health. He could bounce & throw stuffies around with the best! Because of how sick he was in the beginning, we knew the fragileness of life. The result was, we never ever took this guy for granted. We loved him completely, totally and always, every single day he was with us. Always knowing how special our time was together. How lucky we were. TEN YEARS! We almost made it to TEN YEARS!

Ten years of Greenlake walks, greyhound picnics, neighborhood walks, vacations at Kalaloch with other greyhound families. Those walks on the beach, the evenings, with the hounds all sacked out all over the place…

My brother wrote to us on Dave’s passing, “he’s always seemed like such a regular-guy-of-a-dog.” Dave was a very special dog, and part of that was that he was such a regular guy.

And now, he is gone. To honor him, we’ve adopted Hilan Craigie, now Buzz. It is the best thing we could do to reward Dave’s years of love to us. Just as almost ten years ago, we adopted Dave, to honor Tigger. Now, I realize, when I used to tell people I wished he was small enough to carry with me all the time, I DO carry him with me all the time. He is always in my heart, and has been since the day I first met him and will be until the day I die.

Dave, he was a good dog. PJ’s Happy David, Dave, Davey, Dave Crockett, Doodle Buggy, Davey Doodle, Doodle Doggy Bed Hoggy. The Saint.

Dave Crockett Love – September 27th, 1995 – February 13th, 2008.

Remembering him with love & missing him, Lorean, John, Hunter & Brite