The Greatest Dog that EVER Lived

Brusier Rocketeer Frandsen 200?-June 2014

This is our beloved Bruiser boy that passed away this week. One morning I woke up and went to let the dogs outside. I noticed Bruiser was having trouble with his front legs. They just stopped working! I thought it was weird but thought maybe he just hurt them somehow and it would be fine after some rest. So I picked him up and took him outside. He LOVES going outside but this time he just laid there in the grass. Then I noticed his back legs were struggling too! My heart sank. I texted Brett at work and told him what was going on. He came home from work to check on Bruiser. We could tell he was not progressing but rather regressing. Our Bruiser boy was not doing well. 

When we adopted our dogs, we always said that if anything ever happened that would cause them to have a poor quality of life, we would let them return home to Heavenly Father. We didn't ever want our dogs to suffer or be unhappy on our behalf. So when Bruiser started regressing, we already knew what the plan may be. We set an appointment with the vet for the following day in hopes that it was something minor and fixable but were also preparing ourselves to let him go if needed. So for the rest of that day we snuggled him SO SO SO much. His limbs became completely useless and he wasn't able to eat or go to the bathroom.  

 I took him everywhere where I went that day. He would just watch Momma at work. 

Cali tried to nurse him back to health. It's crazy how intune dogs are with things. 

Jamison smothered him with kisses. 

 I think Sawyer struggled a lot. Bruiser was "HIS" dog. We told Sawyer everything that was going on and included him in the decisions. He said a lot a prayers for his boy. 

 Little did we know that this would be our last family photo with Bruiser. It was a very emotional time for all of us. 

 When we got to the vet, our fears were validated. Bruiser had some severe spinal damage and he was paralyzed. We have no idea how or when he hurt his spine. When the vet told us that we cried. A lot. He told us our options but all of the options that allowed him to live weren't good ones. 

 We knew we had to let him go. This is not the life an amazing dog like Bruiser deserved. He was unhappy and in pain and we couldn't keep him for our own benefit. The vet allowed all of us to be in the room as Bruiser was put to sleep. We all gave him hugs and kisses and said our good-byes and he peacefully passed away. We sobbed. And Sobbed. And sobbed some more. 

 We had the option to either leave him there to be cremated or we could bring him home and bury him ourselves. We chose to bring him home so we could have his body close to us. Sawyer was insistant on helping his Dad dig Bruiser's grave. 

 We had a little funeral for him and wrote notes to him to put in his little boxket. We talked about our favorite memories we had with him and celebrated his life. 

Before we closed the box, the other dogs said their good-byes. 

We buried him under the tree in our back yard. It's a spot visible from all the back windows in our house so we can still see him.  

Bruiser Frandsen was an amazing dog. We got him shortly after we got married from an animal shelter. The moment we laid eyes on him, we knew he was our doggy. However, Bruiser wasn't available for adoption until the next day so we woke up super early to be at the shelter before anyone else so we could have him. Bruiser was our first "son". 

 Since we struggled with infertility so bad, our dogs became our babies. They filled a HUGE hole in our hearts. We took them everywhere. Vacations, trick-or-treating, boating, etc.

 Brett even took his boy Bruiser on the annual Father/Son campout at church. Here is a picture of the hiking trail they took. Bruiser by his Daddys side.

This was a huge learning experience for our boys. Sawyer has never "experienced" a death and this was so personal for him. We told him about doggy heaven and he is glad Bruiser is there to run and be happy :-)