Gunther...

This afternoon my childhood pet, Gunther, passed away back home in North Carolina. He was an amazing dog who I know loved me very much. He was 14. We adopted him as a puppy in the early spring of 1996. We had just moved to the Outer Banks and he was the first pet in our new home. Gunther was a mix, mostly Shepperd. I remember the day we went by the vets office with my Mom. She had Chance, Steven and myself all loaded up just to go talk to the people there and find out about local breeders or where to adopt. It just so happened that two puppies had been dropped off. Gunther and his sister. We wound up leaving with the puppy to go show it to Micheal, my Daddy-O. Us keeping the puppy all came down to what he had to say about it. Of course he thought we were just beginning to look into getting a dog, not getting one that day. He never stood a chance with his three children sitting in the backseat of that Jeep Cherokee with puppy eyes wanting so badly to keep who we were hoping would make the new addition to our family. Needless to say, Gunther came home to stay. My Mom picked his name out. Gunther Gabel, Gunther for short. He looked like a little bear cub who had stuck his nose in a light socket. His furr stuck out every which way. All that first summer poor Chance always had little holes in the butt of his diapers because Gunther would hang on to the backs of them trying to bite him while he was teething. (Think of the Coppertone baby add.) Gunther was extremely protective of the people he loved. There were one or two boyfriends that Gunther chased away back in the high school days for me. (Thanks Buddy, those guys were losers!!!) I can remember another time, Steven and I had gotten into one of our many fights growing up and well it was right around the time I stopped winning those fights and Steven would win. My parents always warned me he would get bigger then me one day! Gunther actually went after Steven and got him off of me. Gunther loved Steven don't get me wrong, he just loved me more;) Sorry Mom, Steven and Chance but I think Gunther loved Micheal and I the most. He was so sneaky too. The night before my first day of middle school he somehow got out of his kennel (which was in my room.) and shredded my new school shoes. I was so mad at him that following morning, of course now I can look back and laugh about it. Gunther had slowed down quite a bit in the last few years. I'm amazed that I got to see him twice more after we moved. Strangely a few weeks ago when I was home I knew I wouldn't be seeing him again. I told him he didn't have to wait for me anymore if he was too tired when I left and that I loved him. He was such a good dog and a great part of our family. I was so glad the stars aligned that one spring day back in 96' and he came home with us. Gunther I will always miss and love you, I hope that doggy heaven has lots of steak scraps and doggy ice cream!!!!