Online Memorials

Moose

2003 - 2017

Moose lived for 14 and 1/2 years. She was the love of my life. The most loyal, sweet, smart dog I ever had. The end of her life didn't go how I had wanted, I wanted her to go peacefully in her sleep, no suffering. Letting her go was the hardest thing ever and I'll never be the same without her.
The Story of Moose
Late March 2003 I went to Pet Ranch, a pet store that used to be on Constitution and Powers. It was a cold March night, I was going to get frozen blood worms for our Discus fish, George told me "do not buy a puppy!' George's black chow had passed away a couple weeks before and he knew I was always looking at puppies at Pet Ranch. I said, "I'm not going to buy a puppy, don't worry"
When I got to Pet Ranch I was looking around the store and I saw this teenage boy walking around with a puppy wrapped in a wet towel, I was wondering what was up with that. So I started following him around discreetly. He finally got to talk to an employee, the red haired guy who was always there. I heard him ask the guy if they buy puppies, the employee said they do sometimes but that the owner wasn't there and he wasn't authorized to take any puppies without the owners approval. The boy said can you call him? The employee said no, the owner would have to see the pup, come back tomorrow., the boy said I can't keep her until tomorrow :( The employee walked off and I went up to the teenage boy and said what's wrong? why can't you keep her? He said he had bought her the day before from an ad in the newspaper, he paid $125 for her. He said he had school all day and worked part time at night. He said the puppy had spent all day in the garage while he was at school, that was so sad I thought, the first day away from her mom and litter mates and she spent it alone in a dark cold garage. He said when his dad came home he told him that he couldn't keep the puppy, to get rid of it, take it somewhere and don't come home with it. He gave her a bath and wrapped her in a towel and headed for the pet store to see if they would want her. I asked him what he was going to do with her now since the store wouldn't take her? He said I don't know, my dad said don't bring her home again. I thought he might do something desperate like just put her in someones fenced yard and leave her there. The puppy was laying in his arms in the wet towel shivering with the saddest look on her face, looking up at me. The boy said "do you want her?? I said Yesss, I want her! He said I don't even want any money for her, I just want her to have a good home. I told him she'll have a good home, we love dogs and we just lost a dog age 13 and I'll take good care of her. He handed her to me, I was beyond thrilled, so happy to have this adorable pup.I bought the fish food and took the puppy out to my car and drove home. Pulling up to the house, I told her to stay down so I could sneak her in the house. I put her inside my coat and zipped it up. Of course George was standing at the front door holding the door open waiting for me, he never did that. I was walking up the front sidewalk trying to keep her hidden when suddenly she popped her head out of my coat! George said what is that?! I said a puppy! he said I told you don't buy a puppy!! I said I didn't, she was free!! He was not happy. I brought her inside, she was so happy, running on the couch, running around, going up to George playfully. George said you can keep her, but only if I get to name her. He named her Moose after his dog that passed away a couple weeks earlier. I wanted to name her Peanut, but it was a good trade off as long as I got to keep her. That's the story of Moose