R.I.P. Lunden

Today was a difficult day.  We had to put our beloved dog, Lunden down.  She was diagnosed with lymphoma a couple of months ago and went downhill pretty rapidly thereafter.  She was 11, but acted like a puppy almost to the end.  I can't tell you how many times people asked how old our "puppy" was, and how surprised they were to find out she was a senior citizen in dog years!  She was a sweet, sweet dog; so gentle; always happy; very (overly) energetic ;-); and so great with kids. 

Lunden was a special dog; our first family pet.  We got her just after we moved to Colorado in the spring of 2000, right after I graduated from law school.  We saw her in a pet store of all places (we said we'd never buy a dog from a pet store!), and fell in love.  She was advertised as a pure bred yellow lab, but after we'd had her a week or so, the pet store called and told us that they'd made a mistake, that she was actually a mutt - a mix of lab and retriever.  They told us we could bring her back if we wanted.  As if!  I had the 'cutesie' idea of naming her Lunden because we had gone to London on our honeymoon. Cheesy, I know ;-)

I trained her while studying for the Bar exam that summer.  She was a welcome distraction!  There was a huge park next to the condo we were renting at the time, and we spent countless hours together lounging on the grass enjoying the bright Colorado sun and going on long walks.  She quickly became like a first child (and was treated like one too!). Colorado is a great place for a dog and everyone seems to have one (or several!). She came on all of our hikes with us, complete with her doggie backpack and equivalent of a Camelbak.  There were a myriad of amazing dog parks all within 15 minutes of our house. Her favorite was this one with a huge pond for the dogs to swim.  We'd chuck a stick out to the middle and she would dive bomb in, retrieve, and come right back for more.  I think she was depressed when we moved back to DC (weren't we all?!).

With the arrival of C in 2002, Lunden was quickly dethroned from her "top dog" of the house status.  In my hormonal postpartum state, I remember feeding C on the couch while Lunden looked on forlornly and bursting into tears because I couldn't give her the attention she was used to.  LOL!  Another child (and still another) and a couple of house moves later, and poor Lunden was lucky if she got her ears scratched in passing on our way to and fro.  But she loved us and we loved her.  She was happiest when right under our feet.

I'm not much of an animal lover, or even much of a dog person for that matter.  But Lunden was special and I'll miss her a whole lot.

3/21/2000 - 7/22/2011