my dog riley
Since growing up, i’ve seen homeward bound and any other dog best friend movie i feel. For the longest time i’ve wanted my own “shadow.” Riley came into my life as an accident. I had been home from tour for a few weeks and my parents had decided to help out another foster dog family by taking Riley for the week. As soon as she came in i knew she was my dog. We spent most of the week together, riley had come from an abusive family who left her outside. Because of it she had fur falling out and suffered from impromptu seizures. She was timid when she met me, which she really had all reason to be due to her upbringing. I tried to be friendly and just “hang out” with her during the week. Eventually at the end of the week she would wait for me to come home before she went to bed and then sit outside my door until i said she could come in. She would then jump onto my bed and sleep next to me. This was especially cool for me because ever since being a little kid you always dream about a dog sleeping on the foot of your bed. The foster family came back home and Riley went back to live with them. I began to pitch to my parents that i thought it would be a good idea to adopt Riley, after all we already had Louis so whats one more dog? Eventually they agreed and we took on Riley as our own. After a few months her fur was back to a full shiny coat and with proper medication she no longer had seizures. I had to go back out onto the road but Riley never forgot about me when i came home. It didnt matter how long i was gone for, she was always happy to see me. Riley complimented our other dog Louis as well, they were quite a good team, she even helped calm him down with his fear of thunderstorms.
When it rains it pours. Louis got sick, real sick we had to take him into the vet, he had heart failure and eventually we had to put him down because of how bad he was doing. It was a terrible feat to my mom who had considered him “her dog.” I never really understood that till Riley got sick, her redblood cell count dropped ever so quickly and she couldnt come back from it. You almost look at them as your child or sibling, and here i am 2000 miles away. What i do know is that Riley was a fighter, when lou passed she took on guarding the house and made to make sure everyone knew she was home when there was a knock on the door.
I loved Riley as My dog because i knew that she didnt care what i did or who i worked for, she was just happy to see me when i came home and that was enough for her. Part of me thinks that she had been sick much longer then we knew but didnt show it till i came home and after i had left. I’m not sure if its true or not but i feel that she needed to see me one more time before she knew it was okay to be hurt. I’d also like to think that for those 9months we had her that they were the best months of her life. She was finally free with a big yard, healthy food, and more love then she knew what to do with. Typing this is hard because it forces me to acknowledge the fact that shes actually gone.
ill never forget you,
-danny
