This morning I woke up and my Great Pyrenees of six years Nemo was no longer with me.
We were sleeping in our Volkswagen bus. Apparently, I had missed Nemo ingesting something poisonous on our last walk of the night, last night. Before bed, he threw up and acted less than happy, but then Nemo hopped into our Westy and was not really any more or less comfortable than any other night. He drank a lot of water and went to sleep. When he'd move around I knew because that lower bunk is small. It was a night like any other night.
I woke up a bit surprised, however, that Nemo'd let Pretzel and I sleep in till 7:30 am. I went over the list of stuff I needed to do today for work in my head, and then I looked back and thought "Is Nemo breathing?"
Nemo was a very special dog. I loved him very much. He spent 6 years living on a beach and then a few months driving around living on lots of beaches in a VW van. He never wanted for a thing, was always surrounded by love and had no idea that a Great Pyr is supposed to live a lot longer than 6.
Nemo was rescued by fantastic folks who supported us and loved Nemo his entire life, even after they closed up shop. Randy has been there to answer questions or to help me with Nemo's training at every turn. Living with such a large dog that is bred to be a guardian would not have been possible without that guidance.
In as much as I have loved anything, I loved Nemo. He was forever opening doors. Now they will remain closed.
