For those who haven't guessed it, my username spells "frisbee dog" without the vowels. I took it as my online presence here almost ten years ago, in honor of my Australian shepherd. She was my first and only dog, and she really was "man's best friend." We did just about everything together: hiking, backcountry skiing and snowboarding, frisbee, dog agility, you name it. She came to us as an 8-week old puppy, and we were blessed to have her in our lives for almost 14 years. We lost her in January 2011, and I came here to dKos for comfort, which you provided.
A few months after Breck passed away, we had the good fortune to meet the owner of a very sweet, and very pregnant, Border collie. On March 30, 2011, she gave birth to seven squirming little puppies. We saw them when they were just three days old, with their eyes and ears closed tight, they wriggled around on the dog bed looking for their mom.
Read on, dog lovers...
Over the next couple of months, we went to visit the puppies every week or two. We were there when they went outdoors and stepped onto real grass for the first time. We watched some of their first shaky steps, wobbling on those tiny legs, sometimes toppling over. We didn't know which one would be ours, as the owner of the mother and father had yet to make their selection.
And then, around week five, one little guy chose us. He was the largest of the litter and the last one born. And he approached me as if to say "Hi, Daddy." His birth name was "Fergus," and he had a perfect black triangle right between his shoulder blades in the middle of his white cape. It was an unusual marking to be sure, but we could instantly pick him out of the pack by it.
We decided to bring him home with us on Memorial Day weekend, as it would give us three full days to devote to helping him settle into his new home. Our Australian shepherd was named "Breckenridge," after the Colorado ski town where Mrs. frsbdg and I went on our first vacation together. Like many Alaskans, Hawaii is one of our favorite places to escape in winter. So we wanted to name our little guy after something to do with Hawaii. At the Honolulu airport, there's a bus that connects the two terminals called the "Wiki Wiki Shuttle." The term "wiki wiki" means "fast" or "quick." We just knew he would be fast, so we named him "Wiki." When he's mischievous, we call him "Wikipedia," because he thinks he knows everything but is often wrong. When it was time for him to do his business outside, we called that "Wikileaks."
That first night, we put him into his sleeping crate and he cried and howled. It was probably the first time he had ever been really alone, so we took him out and let him sleep with us on the bed. It was too high for him to jump down, and he slept with us for the next week or two until he was comfortable with the crate.
At ten weeks, we enrolled in a puppy class to help socialize him with other dogs. At first, he was very shy and hesitant to approach other dogs, but over the six week class Wiki came out of his shell and learned how to play well with others. It didn't hurt that one of his litter-mates was also in the same class, and they played and wrestled together every chance they got.
Over the course of the summer, Wiki chased a variety of different balls around the back yard. He learned to catch them on the bounce, and then in the air. He chased after a mini-frisbee rolled along the ground. He made his first catch in August. He ran through the agility tunnel at 10 weeks of age. We started hiking together in the mountains with him on a flexi-lead, but by the end of the summer he could be trusted off-leash.
In the fall before the snow fell, we did a couple of 10-mile hikes together. And over the course of this winter, we have done a ton of backcountry skiing together. Wiki sure loves the snow - it will be interesting to see how he takes to grass again this year.
So why am I writing this today? It was so hard to lose Breckenridge. We have said "goodbye" to two cats as well, and those are some of the saddest days of our lives. Long after she was gone, I had kept Breck's picture as my online avatar, in her honor. But I also knew that there would come a time to move on, and to honor Wiki instead. That time has come. I won't tell you how I know, as it's too personal. But the time has indeed come. Breckenridge will always be in my heart, if not on my computer screen.
All pet owners know that they give us unconditional love, but they also teach us so much. Breckenridge taught me that when she died, it wasn't the size of the hole in my heart that mattered. What mattered was what I chose to fill it. And I chose to fill it with love. Wiki is growing up to be a very good dog. There's no reason why a man can't have two best friends, is there?
Thanks for reading. Please enjoy a few of my favorite pictures of Wiki.
As a very young puppy
With his Mom
His first Frisbee
Playing with his yellow ball
With his buddy, Aspen
On a winter hike