It all started with Gus. For several days he hadn't been eating his food and then he began throwing up. This has happened in the past and he would usually throw up whatever was causing the problem and eat again. But this time was different. He never threw up anything and eventually he was only throwing up water. He was lethargic and wouldn't eat anything. Gus never turned down food so thats when I knew something was wrong. I took him to the vet where they did some x-rays but didn't see anything in his stomach.
This is the last picture we got of Gus before his surgery
They kept him for a couple days but Gus wouldn't eat a thing. The vet suggested I bring him home to see if maybe he just wasn't eating because he wasn't with us. I brought him home and he got to spend one more night with us. He ate a little the next morning but then threw it all up about an hour later. So it was back to the vet for an exploratory surgery. They ended up removing a bunch of string from his stomach. None of us saw him eating the string but he could be pretty sneaky.
He still didn't eat after the surgery and the vet said I better bring the kids in to see him, which I knew didn't bode well. The kids didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, but they were happy to see Gus. Gus wagged his tail for the first time since he had been at the vet's and when we left he walked to the door expecting to leave with us. It was really sad for me to leave him there.
The next day there was a big snowstorm and Chet started to feel sick. He didn't eat anything all day and went to bed early. I got a call from the vet tech around 6 saying that Gus's labs indicated he was in organ failure and that we could come see him one last time. I took Austin and Mariah and we went to say goodbye. He couldn't get up but he wagged his tail again and tried several times to get up. There were lots of tears shed. Mariah took it the hardest. And I was dreading telling Chet the next morning. His heart was broken too.
We talked about how Gus was going to heaven where he could chase all the chickens and dig as many holes as he wanted. Megan at the vet office was so wonderful. She was texting me updates on Gus all throughout the week and stayed at the clinic the night we said goodbye for as long as we needed.
I didn't sleep well that night but I thought it was just because I was so sad about Gus. I woke up in the morning with a headache but just figured it was because I hadn't slept well. Tanner stayed home with Chet and the kids and I wore masks at church.
The next day some men came to tear up our flooring. They were so great and let Chet and Austin help them. The boys were in heaven and it helped distract them from missing Gus.
The previous owners had left messages on the linoleum saying that there was lots of money hidden in the walls. I had to make it clear to my children that they were joking and they should not be making holes in the walls.
That night Tanner came home and said he had had a slight headache all day so he brought a take-home COVID test with him. He and Chet both tested positive...all the flooring besides the bedrooms was ripped up...and we were going to have to start quarantine. Not the best timing. I was so worried that the workers at our house were going to get COVID but luckily they never did. Although I didn't take a test, I'm pretty sure that I also was already sick with COVID.
Tanner took advantage of his time off and did all sorts of projects around the house: building shelves in the storage room, painting our bedroom, and setting up shelves in the garage. He didn't feel amazing, but still was able to do a lot. I was pretty exhausted and my lower back hurt quite a bit. It didn't help that I wasn't getting amazing sleep because of Vivi. I wanted to nurse her as much as possible in the hopes that I could pass antibodies on to her. She ended up having a fever one day and wasn't feeling too great for a few days.
At one point Eliza told me her "brain felt like it was on fire". And she took a nice long nap one day. But besides that she was fine.
Mariah and Austin complained of stomach aches one day but other than that didn't seem too sick.
We built a "play pen" or as Austin and Eliza liked to call it, "pig pen"; so Vivi could be on the floor upstairs when I was making meals.
There were lots of movies watched on the old TV downstairs.
While none of this was ideal, we were able to see the blessings in all of it. We were so sad to see Gus go but it has been special to see all the people who have reached out to us in love. Just today we got a letter in the mail from my older sister with bookmarks that had pictures of Gus and the kids on them with special quotes about dogs.
And we had really mild COVID as well. It was so nice to have Tanner home for a while and even though our upstairs was rough, I'm so grateful we have our basement. Our new floors are almost completely done and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I haven't really talked about Gus very much on the blog but there are so many things that I don't want to forget about him.
Gus would eat almost anything. He loved broccoli, bell peppers, blueberries, strawberries, carrots. If we fed it to him, if it was dropped on the floor, or if he was able to sneak it off the counter, he was going to eat it. We could always tell when Gus was sneaking food because that was usually the only time he would willingly go in his kennel. He would put himself in timeout. The only thing I saw him spit out was spinach or lettuce. And a frog he tried to eat as a puppy. Popcorn was probably his favorite and he would get so excited when he heard the popcorn machine turn on.
Here he is just hoping Austin will drop one of his snacks.
He loved to play soccer with us. He was really good at stealing the ball or blocking the goal. He also tried to play basketball but was mainly a nuisance with that.
We have a cat that randomly showed up one day at our house as a kitten. He and Gus had the funniest relationship. The cat would let Gus wrestle him and put him in his mouth and would always come back for more. Sean still comes to the deck door and looks in for Gus. They were good buds.
Chet wanted me to share a story: "One time I was cleaning windows and Gus stole the rag from me and threw it to Sean. Sean tried to run away with it but I caught him."
The last few months of his life Gus started sneaking into the boys' room to sleep when he could tell that Tanner and I were heading for bed. He did not want to go in his kennel. We ended up giving up making him and he loved sleeping on the boys' beds with them, and they begged for him to stay in there at night.
Mariah was doing Dog 4H with him and was excited to get to show him at the fair. Gus listened really well to her if I wasn't there. But if he could see me he was trying his hardest to get to me and looking at me the whole time. It was ridiculous.
Gus loved the neighbor's dog Honey, but she didn't love him. I don't blame her, he was pretty obnoxious and had way too much energy. Even though she was half his size, she had no problem letting him know how she felt. But when Sugar came Gus was so happy because she loved to play with him and would even try to sneak onto our property to play with him.
Gus had the bad habit of going over to our other neighbor's property to check on their cows. He even would bark at them sometimes as they were getting in their cars. Very embarrassing.
He had the funniest way of laying on our ottoman. He wasn't supposed to lay on the couches but if we all left the room that was the first place he went.
He was really good with the kids. He would let the older kids know if they were doing something he didn't like but was so gentle with Eliza when she was younger and Vivi. One time Vivienne crawled on him and he whimpered but waited for me to take her off. However, he didn't have much spacial awareness; he once rolled on Vivienne when she was a newborn and was known to clip her in the head when he would try to jump over her as she crawled.
He loved to get messy and I hated the mess. There was one hole on our property that he loved to dig in and then come back a disaster. He also had a knack for getting covered in burrs. I once pulled three different kinds of burrs out of his fur. Once when I was really pregnant with Vivi he fell into our neighbor's pond. Chet was able to call to him and get him to climb over the broken ice and get out. I was not happy about cleaning him at almost nine months pregnant and called him "the worst dog" many times during my pregnancy.
He would get so excited when Tanner would come home from work. He gave these funny toothy grins and would run from one end of the house to the other.
I really wanted him to play fetch but he was pretty lazy at that. He would fetch the ball a few times and then just run away with it.
He was super smart and we were able to train him to do a lot of different tricks which he loved to do. If he wasn't quite sure what we were asking he would frantically start doing all the tricks he knew, hoping he'd eventually guess right.
He loved our UPS driver because he would give him a treat. Even if he saw the truck at the neighbors he would get all worked up and if I let him out he'd run to our fence and wait for a treat. The vet office even said that one day the UPS driver came into the office and saw Gus there and Gus wagged his tail when he saw him. He said Gus was one of his favorite dogs on his route.
He had a problem with adults he didn't know. He wouldn't let them pet him until they came and stayed at our house. But once they had done that he had no problem with them. Even if he hadn't seen the person for a long time, he would remember them and be excited to see them.
He would get so excited for car rides even if it ended at the kennels where he stayed when we were gone. He didn't love the kennels or getting groomed and would never willingly go to the ladies who worked with him even after two years.
Gus was a lot of work and there were many days when I wondered why I ever wanted a dog. There were always smudge marks on my windows and paw prints on my floor. But I loved watching my kids play with him. I loved having a dog to take with me on my walks or when I was doing things around the property. Two years wasn't long enough with our Gus. We are going to miss that silly dog.
