Well today was a very sad day for the Dibb Family. Today our well loved family dog, Blanche, returned to the heavenly father who created her. Blanche was an Australian Sheppard and she was getting pretty old as dogs go. 77 in dog years. And the years were beginning to wear on her. As of late, she lost all use of her back right leg. It was extremely sad to see her limping around avoiding the use of that leg as much as she could. She has always been a very active dog and a joy to be around. Luckily I was able to see my furry friend for the last time yesterday on our most recent trip to Salt Lake. We sat on the front driveway as we often did and I scratched behind her ears for the final time. Today my parents along with my little brother took her to the vet in order to end her pain. Because I am not going to be around for the memorial service my parents are holding tonight in their back yard, I thought I would share a few memories of Blanche seeing its the only thing I can really do.
(Me and Blanche most likely the spring after we got her.. do you like my styling bowl cut?)
Blanche joined our family entirely on a wager between my older brother Alan, my parents, and myself. In the summer of 1996, my brother and I began pestering my parents about the idea of getting a dog. We hadn't had a dog since I was extremely young (so young I don't even remember him) and one day while driving in the car amongst our never ending prodding, my parents cracked!! This was pretty amazing seeing my mom was dead set against getting a dog. But, it came on two conditions. First off, I had to get over a "B" average for my entire 7th grade school year. This was of course coming after some pretty pathetic grades in 6th grade. Second, Alan had to keep his room clean and his bed made for an entire year, which comes after the fact that we were both utter slobs. We agreed and our quest began. Amazingly, we kept our end of the bargain and after a year we went dog shopping. We knew exactly what we wanted. We had done extensive breed research and came to the conclusion that the Australian Shepard was the perfect fit. We found some for sale in the news paper and went to check them out. Blanche seemed to be the most docile of the litter so we picked her. I'm guessing she must have just woken up or something because she turned out to be extremely hyper! Regardless, we loved her. She had such a fun and almost goofy personality. Her hobbies included rolling on her back in the grass, barking (she was very protective of our house and would bark and chase anyone walking past, which, needless to say, scared a lot of people). She also loved chasing deer. One night in the winter she chased a group of dear all the way over the top of the mountain behind our house. She was gone for about an hour and in my fear I began hiking the mountain after her in about 2 feet of snow. I had made it about half way up the mountain when she came trotting down towards me with the biggest smirk of accomplishment on her face. She loved going hiking with Alan and especially enjoyed it when there was snow or a river involved. She loved eating snow, hot dogs, and of course dog biscuits. Blanche and I also began rollerblading together.. mostly I would just stand in my Rollerblades and she would pull me down the street at extreme speeds!! I fell a few times at the beginning, getting some vicious road rash, however, when I fell Blanche would just come over and lick my face. She seemed to really like rollerblading and would get extremely tired afterward. I will be forever impressed by her herding instincts. As a puppy she would try and push us where she wanted us to go and even as an adult if there was a group of some kind of animal she would spring into herding mode. All in all, Blanche was a great dog. She was always very excited to see us. She didn't have a tail to wag, so she would just wag her entire rear end. She will be sincerely missed and I hope she is in dog heaven chasing a herd of deer in a large field right this second. Until we meet again Blanche..... thanks for your friendship.
(Blanche on a hike in the mountains behind our house)
I know this is a huge post but I feel it is appropriate for the occasion.
