We lost our precious Hercules yesterday. He was an enormous Alaskan Malamute and would have been 13 years old next month. Our vet didn't believe he would make it past ten. He was Hannah's Christmas present in 1996. Our younger children don't ever remember a time when Hercules wasn't part of our family. For them, he was always here to play with and protect them. He was a gentle giant, loved by everyone. Our next door neighbor always told people Hercules was his dog, he just lived with us. It's amazing how much a special pet can touch our hearts. That's not always a given with me. I tend to look at most pets rather ambivalently; I don't usually become attached. But, Hercules was a perfect gentleman.
There is so much I will miss about him.
He always looked like he was smiling. He was never pushy or rude, and he made it clear that you were his very favorite person in the whole, entire universe.
I will miss his season of "molting". Malamutes are a double coated breed, and shed their undercoat every year. When in molt, it looked, at first glance like it had snowed on just one part of the yard. We could have knitted sweaters from the "wool".
He loved to go visit people, so we had to keep locks on the side gates. Otherwise, he could just lift the handles with his nose. Now we don't need the locks.
He always knew the difference between our pets and a "prey" animal. Our other dogs, cats, etc. were never afraid of him, but when we had "stock", he did eat several of them that didn't stay in their pens.
One of my favorite Hercules stories was told to us by our previous next door neighbor. He was adding on to the back of his house. One day he looked out and saw that all the workmen were laughing about something. He went out to see what was going on. They were laughing at Hercules. We had a litter of kittens that had just gotten big enough to wander a little bit. Their momma had taken up residence near our shop in the back yard. The kittens had wandered up close to the gates going to the front yard. Hercules didn't think they should have strayed that far, so he was gently picking each one up with its head in his mouth and carrying it back to its momma. The workmen next door couldn't believe a dog that big could be that gentle, or would be worried about baby kitties.
We had known for a few months that the end was very close. We kept hoping we could somehow postpone it just a little while longer. We finally came to the point where it was time. There was nothing we could do. There was no way to get around it. Kregg and Caleb loaded him up and drove to the vet. When they came back, Kregg's heart was broken. He had already prepared his grave, so we buried him and then stood there and wept. He poured a concrete slab over it and we spelled out his name with small stones.
Oh the things I am still learning from you!! This is a riot!! Your the best. Now, where is my peanut butter jar?
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