tBlog -

McMurphy passed away in the middle of the night, Feb 24th, 2008.

Oz woke me up to let me know there was a problem with MooBoo and I got there just in time to say Goodbye to him. Oz was there next to us in the last moments, nudging his best buddy in concern.

Gulliver stayed sleeping on the bed, until MooBoo took his last breath. At that exact moment though, he came to the edge of the bed and started barking in our direction. Knowing the Murph Dog's sense of humor towards Gull, I can only imagine what his parting shot was to Gull as he headed on up to Heaven.

I doubt I'll ever be blessed to have another dog, that loved life as much as Murpher. His tail was always in motion, bringing sunshine into our house everyday. I've no doubt, he spent an exorbitant amount of time laughing to himself, as he turned his quirky sense of humor towards me, Maddie, Oz and Gull.

After Maddie went blind, he'd do lil' things to rile her up, like wave his rear end in her face. Then when she'd get mad enough to go after him, with intent to yank out some of his Cairny hair, he'd hide behind a bush from her, with his tail wagging a mile a minute and big ole' grin on his face.

If I put down 3 toys for each dog, it wouldn't take long before he'd claim all 3 for himself. Apparently 2 Collies frantically barking at him, that "They were telling Mom", held no weight with him.

I always kept a towel down next to the bed, for the Collies to use to jump down off the bed, so that they wouldn't slide around on the wood floor. Mooie had a nice cushy bed, but invariably, he'd park himself down on that towel, preventing the Collies from getting off the bed. He again, would turn a deaf ear to their barking and whining for him to move, so they could get down. All the while, a twinkle in his eye and grin on his face.

If I called him for bedtime, he could be right outside the bedroom door, but he'd make a huge, unnecessary circle around the whole house, with me following close behind, hollerin' "MooBoo, I'm not gonna chase you around this house", before he'd make it back around to his original starting point and enter the bedroom. This same scenario occured outside too. I'm sure the neighbors got quite a chuckle at hearing me say everyday, "MooBoo, I'm not gonna chase you around this backyard".

When I called him to come inside the house, he wouldn't come in until I opened and closed the door 3 times. I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind that one.

If I asked him to Come, he Stayed. If I asked him to Stay, he Came. If I asked him to Sit, he remained Standing. If I asked him to catch a frisbee, he ducked. If I asked him to weave through some poles, he ran beside'em. He had a set of rules in his head, that were uniquely his and I'm gonna miss those things most about him.

A couple of weeks before he died, I put out a Flamingo stuffie that was fairly big. Murpher had slowed down a bunch at this age, but when Gull came whizzing by him with the toy, Mooie launched himself at Gull with all he had and managed to grab hold of an end as it flew past him. Gull kept running... MooBoo kept holding... being drug, sliding across the floor. When it was all said and done though, MooBoo had possession of the toy. I wish I'd gotten that on video.

But I was able to put together a lil' tribute of what I did have as far as video and pictures. Hopefully, I captured what life was like living with the Murph Dog. I know for sure, Heaven got a whole lot brighter.