Goodbye, Goldberg.

When I was a freshman in college, my "you can get a dog when you're 10" dog died.  My parents made two hard decisions that week: 1) to put Star to sleep and 2) to not tell me until the next week, when I had finished my first round of final exams.

The following summer, we decided our family was just incomplete without a dog in the house.  The Thompson ladies ventured out to the Montgomery County pound, where we had found our first dog.  Becca had her eyes set on a husky.  I first found a Pekineses puppy named Abbie (Star was a Pekineses) and thought it HAD to be a sign.  Both were shot down.  We walked around.. and I found myself standing in front of a fat, unimpressive lab.  Goldberg came with the name and a bio from his previous owner that lead us to believe they had to leave quickly and had some DC-area-related job (dog was born in Hawaii, and could go 10 hours without being let out, but the owners reported they didn't have time to take care of him).  My sisters were unimpressed.  My mom was content with the bladder bragging he came with, and his obvious housetraining when we brought him outside.  GB was ours a few weeks later... and chaos ensued.

Goldberg found ways to open the fridge, get cupcakes out of containers that no human could easily open, and destroy every trashcan no matter what "dogproofing" strategy we used.

GB was a loyal dog.  He rarely needed a leash, and when he had hearing (this went with age) was a better listener than any of his sisters.  He loved his trips to the bay with my parents.  He loved going to "doggie swim day" at Calverton pool.  He LOVED his boyfriend Glenn next door and bothering the Bushes for treats.  Above all, he loved Diane, our amazing babysitter and friend.  He was always waiting for her to arrive. 

Goldberg was useful.  Whenever our neighbors dog, Glenn, would get loose, we would send Goldberg into the woods to locate him.  It only really worked a handful of times, but Gbs would lead Glenn home- they two were normally exhausted and muddy, leaving us to wonder what fun adventures they might have found.

Goldberg is the reason we have a slew of dogs in our house.  When we got Bodhi in Fall of 2009, we had already agreed to watch Goldberg a few weeks later.  Bodhi came to us skiddish and with no signs of any real socialization.  She was also very young, and very smart.  Bodhi was quick to learn housetraining, but had real problem when we would leave for work with anxiety.  Our furniture still has chew-marks all over it!  When Goldberg came to visit, Bodhi calmed down.  She enjoyed having a companion.  We got Bondra the next month. 

Christmas 2010

True Love.  GB and his sisters.

Goldberg came with his name, and responded to it, so we kept it.  He had many items to celebrate his Jewish name, and a few this with the wrestler GOLDBERG on it, too.

Me and GB at the bay. Summer 2010.

My parent's house at the bay has an elevator, because it was owned by an elderly couple.  We had an elderly dog who knew how to signal at the elevator when he needed to go out.  Even in his old age, Goldberg was one smart cookie.

All of us!  I find it great that Katie go to meet her Uncle Geebs

Goldberg died at home, on Monday, May 8th with his best friend Diane with him. He would have been 17 in July, which made him about 7 million in dog years. He decided he was in control- there was an appointment scheduled with the vet for Monday night to put him down. 

We are so lucky that we found this irreplaceable part of our family and had 11 great years with him!