For those of you who say “it’s just a dog,” you may not understand this post and may think it is silly, but let me start by saying that Darryl was so much MORE than “just” a dog. He was family, and without him, we do not feel complete.

The summer before I started the 5th grade, Mom and Dad decided it was time for us to get a dog. I remember being excited about this, but I am sure I was also a little nervous. After being bitten pretty severely by a dog when I was 4, I was terrified of them. 

Anyway, they looked and looked across various rescue organizations’ websites looking for a good match. They came across 3 Shephard-mix brothers who were listed as being named “Darryl, Darryl, and Darr” that caught their interest. (We later found out all three were named Darryl, after the Bob Newhart Show, but the “yl” got cut off of the last one.) The organization had a partnership with a Petco that wasn’t too far away from us. Once or twice a month they would bring some of the dogs in their care up to the store and host adoption events. 

Mom was away for the weekend flying, so Dad, Trent, and I went to see about these puppies “Darryl, Darryl, and Darr.” They hadn’t brought them to the store that day but said they could get someone to bring them up if that was who we were strongly interested in. It was, so we went to eat lunch and sometime later they were finally able to catch 2/3 playful pups who were enjoying the game of keep away. 

In the meantime, I had seen a female pup who was supposed to be a lab/Shepard mix that I was interested in. Trent wanted one of the Darryls. Dad tossed a coin. I called tails as per usual, Trent getting heads. Heads won. Best coin toss I ever lost. 

So we brought Darryl home with us. (I think we went with the slightly smaller of the brothers, but I cannot remember exactly how we picked between the two.)

Dad took us to meet up with Mom on her way home from the airport and do a kid swap. We broke the news to her on the way home that we had gotten a puppy, but when we got home, Darryl was nowhere to be seen. We had purchased a play-pen type for him which was open on the top rather than a fully boxed-in crate. He had climbed right on out of the pen while we were gone. I don’t remember where he was hiding, but I know it took a while to find him, so long that Mom thought we were pulling a prank on her and only said we got a dog. We said, “NO! We got a puppy! Where is the puppy?!” We did eventually find him and not long after went and purchased a fully enclosed crate for our little escape artist. 

Darryl was a fantastic family dog. It is not uncommon for a dog to attach more to one member of a family than all the rest, but he never truly had just one “person.” He bonded with all of us in our own ways. Of course, he knew Dad was head of the household and was always very obedient to him, but he bonded with and loved us all in a special way with each of us. 

He loved playing tug-of-war, holding on so tightly to his soccer ball that we could pick him up and spin him around. 

If we (the kids) were in the pool, he had to be outside with us (always on guard) no matter how hot he got in his thick-black fur in the Texas sun and even though he hated water and was never going to get in it even if something did happen to us. He loved to run around the pool in circles and bite at the sheer descents. He loved barking at the pool cleaner anytime it came to the top of the water. He loved biting at the water we would splash up to him. 

When the morning light was coming in the back door just right where it would reflect off the window, he loved to chase the light across the room as we would open and close the door. When the power was out and windows boarded up following hurricanes, anytime a flashlight came on, it was a game. 

When we went to stay with my grandparents following a hurricane, he loved hikes through the woods to get to the river and then loved playing in the shallow areas.

When thunderstorms would hit in the middle of the night, he would wake up Mom and insist on her coming upstairs to me because he knew I was scared. 

He spent a lot of hours looking out my bedroom windows while I worked on school work the two years of junior-high I home-schooled for. 

As he got older, of course, some of these games of puppy-hood lost their appeal to him. He loved his walks and exploring the street almost until the end though. Same with special treats and human food. 

Amongst many other signs, when he no longer wanted to go for walks and was not even always wanting to eat special food, we knew he was ready and it was time. 

On Friday, his pain ended. He went out peacefully with people who loved him by his side. I am so thankful I got to be there with him until the very end. To be with him to say goodbye was priceless. I just hope he knew how much he meant to us. That he was the best boy. That I missed him every single day I was gone and hate that I missed out so much on his later years. And how much we all loved him, how much I loved him. 

I could go on, but I think everyone gets the point. He was not just a dog. He was a companion, a playmate, a friend, a confidant, a guardian, a cheerleader, and so much more. He was not just a dog. He was family.

Rest easy, my sweet angel boy. 

We love you and miss you so much, Darryl.