An Introduction to Casey The Dog

Every dog story seems to include the phrase "(Insert dog name) was the best dog in the world." Casey The Dog probably wasn't the best dog in the world; I mean, it's not like she saved me from drowning or took down a gunman to save my life, but I still feel confident saying that she was the best dog for us (I know how to swim, and do not frequently get into gun fights). She molded herself into our lives, and even when she would wake me up in the middle of the night to help her on the bed right after she had decided to jump off, a part of me enjoyed that I could give her what she needed.

I'm using the past tense, because like all stories with family pets, this one does have a sad ending for me. But it wasn't a sad ending for Casey. That dog lived 99.9% of her life with unbridled happiness, and she managed to do that to the very end. Still, this is a story about her life, and even though part of it will always remain a mystery, the parts I got to be a part of will remain some of the most treasured times in my life.

I have been looking through old pictures and videos a lot lately, because now that she's been gone for a few weeks, all I have are memories. With time, those memories will likely fade, and just writing that part of the sentence puts tears in my eyes. She was a special girl, and I just hope writing this keeps her memories as vivid as possible for as long as possible. Some of these stories are going to be incredibly meaningful, and some will just be stupid asides, but they will all add up to give the best story of Casey The Dog I can provide.

In honor of Casey, I will do my best to keep this 99.9% positive, but if the words get too sappy, just scroll through and enjoy super cute pictures and videos of the #1 pup dog in all the land.

Chapter 1: Our Beloved Weirdo

Chapter 1 - Our Beloved Weirdo

This is one of the earliest pictures we have of Casey in the fall of 2009. I can't go through the puppy years, because my future wife (Stef) did not get her until she was two-years old as a rescue. Her former family was moving to Alaska and not taking her along for the ride, and we are so happy they made that decision. All we really know is that she had puppies early on, but it's probably best those puppies found good homes, because she did not seem to maintain any sort of maternal instinct.

Usually weimaraners have slender waists and are as sleek as a Lamborghini. Not Casey. She was a chooch and built more like a sausage than a sports car. She would have gladly used that trash can as a trough.

It's impossible to tell the story of Casey without mentioning Lola (right). Stef's sister Natalie, originally got Lola when she was in Jacksonville. Stef got to take care of her when Natalie went to vet school in St. Kitts, and she fully embraced the weim lifestyle. Since Stef knew that her sister would take Lola back, she decided to get a weimaraner of her own, and that's how she got Casey from a weimaraner rescue house near Des Moines. When Stef first met her, Casey was busy drinking out of the toilet, and her love of drinking out of weird things instead of her water dish never stopped.

Lola was super smart, talkative, a bit of a troublemaker, and a total alpha. Casey was none of these things. She was just seen as a happy-go-lucky dum-dum who had terrible spatial awareness and constantly ran her head into things. Lola totally dominated Casey early on as they both slept in Stef's bed, but Lola was up by her head where Casey was down at the foot of the bed. She was a very cool dog who was just so expressive in everything she did, and she really knew how to work a crowd to be the belle of the ball. Casey was dopey, and even Stef thought she was a bit weird.

I was only partially in Stef's life when she got Casey, but I immediately liked Casey more than most. Lola had built a connection with all of Stef's friends and co-workers (myself included), and Casey was so different that she wasn't as beloved as Lola early on. Maybe it was the part of me that loves an underdog, or maybe I enjoyed the simplicity of playing with a happy dummy who only needed the most basic things in life: Food, Water, Play Time, and Love.

So about Casey needing to play. Yeah, this wasn't a want for her as this dog needed to play. She is the front dog with Lola in back, and I think it's best if we enhance this picture.

Look at those paws digging deep into the sand as she propels her body forward, and she is using that intensity after already fetching the ball. This is the victory lap, and she is playing for keeps. That is a face that only a parent could love. If you're still unsure, let's enhance again.

It's no wonder I fell in love with this beautiful beast.

She also needed love. Weimaraners are a breed that get obsessed with their owners fairly easily, and Casey was no different. This picture is symbolic. At first, she was stuck trying to wedge herself into Stef's arms with Lola already firmly in place. She just wanted her equal place, but Lola had already established the dominant position. It's funny, because when Stef first got Casey, the rescue she was at said that Casey needed to have another dog around, so Stef misled them and didn't mention that Lola would be leaving in a few months to go back to living with Natalie. Lola leaving was one of the best things to happen to Casey, and don't worry, although Lola may have missed tormenting Casey, she was more than happy to go back to Stef's sister.

She also wasn't totally great with boundaries as if there was a situation, not a specific situation, just any situation, she was going to try to insert herself into it to get attention. "Oh, people are busy posing for a picture. No problem, I'll just head on over and see if they need any help." She was so dopey and precious.

This is the first picture I could find of us together. We are in Ohio visiting Stef's family for Christmas. The reason Casey is wearing clothes is because Stef is an asshole (I say this in the most loving way) and played dress-up with that poor dog. The reason I am wearing stupid earmuffs is partially because Stef wanted me to, and I had to impress her if I wanted to make a real go at this relationship thing. Looking at the picture, I have to admit that Casey probably isn't totally enjoying herself, but she's a people pleaser so she was going to allow it as long as she was getting her much needed attention. 

Going back to her home for Christmas was a very big deal, and Casey was there to help me through it. People are exhausting, but dogs are little balls of forever fun. If I stopped talking with people and hung out off to the side, I would be looked at like an antisocial weirdo. BUT if I stopped talking with people and just started wrestling around with the dog that constantly craved attention, I was just a really great dog owner and a caring person. This was 2011, and in 2019, I would still use this trick when my wife went on just a little too long about things happening at work. She did sometimes call me out for not paying attention to her in the middle of a story, but sometimes she would just continue to ramble while I was only paying attention to Casey, and that is a huge win.

Chapter 2: Moving In Together

Chapter 2 - Moving In Together

When we last left off, Casey had just helped me impress Stef's (my future wife) family and friends. Stef is still in shock about the performance I put on when going to Ohio, and I couldn't have done it without Casey The Dog. This led to a big 2012 for Casey, and especially my relationship with Casey.

Stef and I moved in together (before marriage, because we are sinners) in February of 2012. The house we rented in Bettendorf, Iowa had to have been Casey's favorite house. She had a big fenced in backyard, and she would just go up an down the stairs chasing her ball. In the video, she isn't chasing anything as she is just wearing herself out as she carries her Superman toy up and down the stairs. She is most likely doing this because she heard a loud noise and is desperately trying to get inside. I, of course, filmed her running from door to door because it was hilarious.

When it came to this dog, I had one goal: Exhaust the shit out of her. The picture above is a victory for me. Rarely, she would do it herself and just run up and down the stairs. A lot of times it would involve me throwing the ball off the deck and her charging down the stairs, grabbing it, and sprinting back up. Our most special place was a school field that nobody was ever at, and we would both run around. She would chase her ball; she would chase me. If she saw a squirrel, she would chase that too. That school field is probably one of her favorite places ever, because she had enough room to run around freely, and she had the energy to run until my arm got tired. I don't have any pictures which is kind of a shame, but maybe it's good. Our time at that field is perfect in my memories, and I don't think an image could capture that.

Remember how Casey was originally built like a sausage and commonly referred to as a chooch? Nuh uh, not under my watch. I got that body looking TIGHT. I may have had a sore shoulder from throwing the ball, but Casey's waist was small and her curves were kickin'. She dropped about 20 pounds, which was about a quarter of her weight from the Joe workout plan. It was mutually beneficial.

When Stef and I moved in together, we got a new sectional couch. Since it was new, I decided to implement the rule that Casey The Dog would not be allowed on the couch. This was a stupid rule, and looking back, I was more playing the role of dog owner since dog owners have control and boundaries over their dog. I should have just been me, but it didn't take long for her to break me. All she wanted to do was get on that couch, but she knew I wouldn't let her, so one day as I was watching TV, she just sat in front of me and stared with the saddest eyes the world has ever seen. I tried to ignore her, but those eyes stared right through me. I couldn't watch TV so I was just sitting on my couch feeling guilty. It took a few minutes before I finally decided, "Aw, fuck it," and told her she could come up. She immediately hopped up and snuggled right beside me. All she wanted was to be close to me, and I'm glad she broke me as quickly as she did.

I am posting this picture to show Casey and my's love for each other. I want to do that, because the next story makes me seem like a monster, but as the picture shows, she had love in her eyes as I gently caress her head. Along with not wanting her on the couch, I also didn't want her sleeping on the bed. She was terrible at sleeping on the bed. She loved to steal covers, she would get up and plop down on you in the middle of the night, and she wasn't the most peaceful sleeper. It made total logical sense to not have this dog on the bed, and I am a man who uses logic to a fault at times. But this dog needed to have that close human contact so she always insisted on being close to us and trying to get up on the bed. So what to do?

Well, if you're a monster like me, you use her fear of loud noises to your advantage. This dog would flinch like you were shooting a gun at her anytime you fluffed out a trash bag. That noise was a nightmare to her. So I (and note, I'm shaking my head at myself as I write this) would have a trash bag next to the bed, and I would fluff it out to make a big loud noise and have her scurry off the bed. It was only a temporary solution as she would just wait for me to get tired, hop on the bed where I would do more to wake myself up by grabbing the trash bag than just letting her be. She always got her way, and eventually, my trash bag routine of loud noise with no actual pain ended up with her overcoming her fear of trash bags, and then she was fully on the bed for good. So, me being a monster was kind of a good thing? I know, it's a reach. Anyway, in the future, our bedtime routine would basically make a 180 as we just got weirder and weirder as time went on.

Yep, this became a norm as she slowly broke me on my policies, she got more and more comfortable. And sometimes she just NEEDED to casually lay on me. But I was there, and she was there, so our bond got stronger and stronger. At the beginning of 2012, I was trying to play the role of dog owner, but by the end, it was clear that the dog owned me. Our bond taught me a lot.

Like many, I was an incredibly selfish young person. I did what I wanted to do and looked for immediate short-term satisfaction, because that's all I really knew. Casey put an end to that. If she wanted attention, she was going to get attention. I'd feed her, play with her, and take her outside in the bitter cold. But sometimes, all she needed was a spot next to me to snuggle up. It taught me the value of just being there. It's not always about doing something for someone you love, it's just about being there for them when they need you the most.

Around Christmas of 2012, my wife had a family emergency. Things were unclear that night and the following morning so I went in to work, but about a half hour into my day, my wife said she was going to Ohio and asked me to come. The old me would have been reluctant to miss work on short notice and asked if I could meet her there in a few days. Looking back, I know that's bad, and it doesn't make me feel good to write that, but I was honestly a shithead back then. Instead, I told my boss that I had to go and that I should be back sometime after Christmas. 

We drove out to Ohio with Casey in the back and finally made it to our destination, staying at an incredibly shitty hotel on the outskirts of town, but one that was dog friendly. I offered to go to the hospital with my wife, but she just wanted to be dropped off and would call when she wanted to be picked up. I would take Casey out to play or to a park during the day which was great for her to get energy out and great for me too since it gave me an excuse to get out of that hotel room. I didn't do anything grand for my wife. I dropped her off, picked her up, and forced her to eat even though she didn't have an appetite. That was it. But she thanked me for it. Because she didn't need a grand gesture, she just needed me and Casey to be there for her. 

Christmas was just a holiday for me. It was enjoyed, but for my wife and her family it's very special. That was a tough Christmas. Incredibly, there was a near miraculous happy ending to the family emergency, but that wouldn't be known until much, much later. There aren't nearly the number of pictures that usually take place from that year, so this is the only one I could find of Casey, taken on Christmas morning.

That dog is a total goofball, but she needed to get her play time on, even if her ears looked ridiculous. More importantly, there she is. There, always there. It's not anything that stands out, but sometimes it's exactly what you need. It's something simple like that that shows she had a far greater impact on me than I could have possibly had on her. I am a better person, husband, and now father because of Casey The Dog.

Chapter 3: Becoming A Family

Chapter 3 - Becoming a Family

2012 was the year that Casey and me moved in together (with my future wife, Stef, as well), and 2013 was the year we truly became a family. Let's just say Casey was very comfortable with this arrangement.

She would often lie in some unusual ways, but this dog knew how to find comfort. As long as she was up on the couch and had at least part of her touching you, she was usually good to go. Sometimes, all it took was a sliver of space before she wedge herself in, and then slowly stretch out until she was fully satisfied with the situation. Luckily, she didn't have to do much work to hang with me here.

Unfortunately, there were times where I wasn't enough for Casey The Dog, and she would just sit on the couch with her head perched on the back, staring out the window, and just waiting for headlights to pull into our driveway so she could greet her Mom. As much as she loved attention from me, she was always looking to be the center of at least two people's attention.

The reason she may have wanted her Mom is because I did get quite a kick out of torturing her.

I'd throw her toy while in the basement, and occasionally it would take a weird bounce and land in the corner where she would really be stuck between a rock and a hard place. In this case, it was her love of playing and her being terrified that golf clubs were going to fall on her. I'm very encouraging to her, but I am also stifling my laughter as she tries to find the perfect angle to get her toy without disturbing anything around the toy. Luckily, after many very close attempts, this story ends in success as she finally does get her tiny blue rubber bone that was definitely not designed for a dog of her size.

She also did not like touching things that made unexpected noise when she made contact, so cardboard and styrofoam were a little tricky for her.

Now this one is of her own doing as she would always fling her toys into inconvenient spots and then cry that she couldn't get them. This is really a situation where we were torturing each other as I had to listen to her cry, then she had to have me encourage her to do what, in her mind, basically amounted to a suicide mission. Casey came so close to getting her football, but then when she knocked the styrofoam right over the football, I couldn't help but laugh in her stupid, sweet, beautiful face. In the end, she always got her toy and went right back to being the happiest dog around.

This is more evidence of Casey loving to fling her toys in inconvenient spots. I was always the person to wake up first in the house, so Casey would follow me around because she wanted to be a part of the action. Now some of that action was waste management. So I would casually sit on my throne and read and she would come in, tilt her head up just right and then drop toys into the sink. Then she would get in her waiting location.

She would just lay in the doorway, stare at the sink and cry because she needed help getting her toys. At this house, the sink was not within reach of the toilet, so I would occasionally clench my cheeks and waddle over to help her out so she wouldn't wake up Stef. Once we moved into houses with the sink directly next to the toilet, things got better for everyone.

All this playing paid off as she was a true athlete.

Why get on a couch the traditional way when you can go over the back with ease? This is basically a dog's version of why hit a layup when you can dunk it with authority? Although it blew my mind, she was definitely the guy in the gym that thought everyone could effortlessly dunk.

This meant that I had to test her limits.

As you can tell, I was really rooting for her on this one. She gave it such a great effort, and I think if she would have gone back to the couch trick, she could have had it. Still, this sort of effort got both me and The Ultimate Warrior pumped up about life.

Since Casey and I were a couple of trainwrecks coming together to cause havoc, we spent the majority of our time down in the basement where we had room to roll around, chase toys, and just be free to possibly break things since we didn't keep anything nice down there. We had two games that gained a lot of traction. The first was training for the NFL Draft. I was grooming Casey to be a top defensive end, so I would put her ball behind my back, and I would play offensive tackle while she would have to get around me to get her toy. I outweighed her by around 100 pounds, so I could often bully her, but she knew how to use timing and explosiveness to get past me a lot of times. We had some great battles, and if I could have required all quarterbacks to carry a small squoosh ball in their back pocket, she may have made the league.

The second game was ass over teakettle. This was one that had a long shelf life as this was not just fun for us but a real crowd pleaser anytime we had an audience. I would grab a rope or snake toy, and lay on my back in a reverse turtle position. Casey would grab the rope and start pulling me so hard that I would do a back somersault and go ass over teakettle. I would then start giggling and yelling ass over teakettle repeatedly. It was awesome.

Everything so far in this year has been focused on the indoors, but let's not forget how much she loved to get outside and truly let loose. This is her after a long play session at the school nearby where I would launch the ball as far as I could and frolic along with her on sunny days. When I finally told her she had enough (she would never admit this herself), she would then plop down in the nearest shady spot she could find. It was smart in that she found the shade but kind of dumb as had she just been willing to hop in the car, we could have blasted the air and started to really get comfortable.

This picture also reminds me of the time I took her on a five-mile run. Looking back, bad idea on my part. Casey was not great at pacing herself as on walks and runs, she wanted to be the lead dog and go as fast as I would let her. Well, this came to bite her in the ass when we were still a mile away from the house, she decided she had enough. We were on a busy street, but she found a shady grass area near the sidewalk and she just sprawled out and refused to move. I tried everything to motivate her by offering her a treat, food, her ball, go for a walk, go for a run, go for a car ride and finally, after bribing with everything I could think of, I asked if she wanted to go see her Mom, and she pulled herself off the grass and we finished our run, although at a slower pace than the one she set originally.

Basically, as long as she had a willing play buddy, she was always in the mood to go outside. Well, almost always.

Since this was 2013, I'm not totally sure why she was scared but considering I had the camera ready, I clearly knew she was not going to like the idea of going outside. An educated guess makes me believe it was raining outside which was enough to deter her from going outside to go potty, although if I busted out her ball, she would have ran through a tsunami.

Early on, Casey was put in her kennel when we were gone. She was such a spazz that her having a safe space was good to keep her comfortable. In 2013, that started to change. We let her be loose for a couple hours, then a few hours, then gave her a full day, and it turned out that she was comfortable enough to not need it anymore. Still, when she was scared, she would still go back to that safe space, especially if it meant not having to go outside and get wet. It was also pretty funny to see that it took only 10 seconds of laying in a cage to know that she had broken me, and then she was just totally happy with the world again. Again, the dog owned me.

The most important thing that happened this year is that Stef and I got married, fully cementing myself as a part of Casey's life and vice versa (I know this is a picture of my wife's right hand so doesn't really symbolize marriage at all but work with me here). Stef always told people that the only reason we got married was because of Casey The Dog. She may have been exaggerating about it being the only reason, but we both know that we wouldn't be married if Casey wasn't in the picture. Stef said that seeing me with Casey was the first evidence that I could care for something else, and she was right. I put Casey's needs ahead of my own before I put Stef's needs ahead of my own. I basically had the emotional maturity of a 12-year-old. Casey got the ball rolling with my emotional maturity, and that helped Stef mold me into an actual decent person. The greatest thing to happen to me is my relationship with my wife, and it wouldn't have been possible without Casey. She may not have an epic dog story of physically saving my life, but she helped me achieve a better life. I could never truly repay Casey for what she gave me, but I showed her every day how much I loved her, and for Casey, that seemed like enough.

After getting married, it was time for us to get out of Iowa and head to the sunshine state where Casey would meet up with an old friend acquaintance/sometimes arch nemesis.

Chapter 4: Moving To Florida

Chapter 4 - Moving to Florida

At the end of 2013, we gave Casey a non-sinner family with me marrying Casey's Mom (non-biological). After getting married, it was time to give the dog the best life possible and move her from Iowa to Florida. I drove a 26 foot truck with no company while Stef drove her car and had the best company.

I'll just imagine that my wife temporary allowed a photographer in the car for a bit instead of her taking this photo while going down the interstate. But Casey was an awesome road trip buddy, and I'm very jealous that she got all that time with Casey while I was stuck with whatever podcast I was listening to back then.

We initially moved in with Stef's sister to start our time in Florida to give us time to figure out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to live to do it. So we lived as guests in beautiful Plantation, Florida which is less racist than it sounds, but it's Florida so still somewhat racist. There was a pool at the house, and even though we didn't know Casey her first two years, we can confidently say that this dog had never been in water.

She did everything she could to still play while keeping her body out of that water which she assumed was a death trap. Along with living with Lola again, there was a new dog to worry about in Jack. Jack is the most harmless dog ever, but Casey avoided him as much as possible, because Jack realized he was a dog and wanted to play with other dogs, and that seemed way too uncivilized for Casey to consider. She was there for the people. And this strategy of Casey staying out of the water was a good idea on her part, because this dog was the least natural swimmer of any dog that has ever existed.

As you hear at the end, "Oh my God, she's a terrible swimmer." Natalie, Stef's sister was not wrong in her assessment. I was not a trained swimming coach for dogs, but I believed in myself, and I believed in her, so we slowly worked on building her confidence.


Look at that improvement. The smashing her arms into the water as hard as she could was gone as she had a little smoothness in that motion. But she was still a work in progress as she still wouldn't get in on her own and didn't totally understand the concept of stairs in the pool.


Luckily, she was enough of an athlete from her time playing defensive end and ass over teakettle in the basement of our Bettendorf, Iowa house that she could make up for her lack of spatial awareness. And finally, after some work, she had a breakthrough where she was not only willing to get in the pool, she freaking LOVED it.


She was a dive bombing machine and would go as long as you would throw. Plus, she even learned how to use the stairs. I have no idea how these videos got spliced together, but hey, there's some fancy editing work for you so you get two jumps in just 12 seconds. She started ordering up more play time, even if I wasn't outside.


Let me give you a side view to hammer home how ridiculous this dog was.

There she is, perched on the loveseat, ready to get served a heaping helping of playtime. I always saw this dog as my sweet dummy, but it was times like these where she showed more intelligence than she originally let on. If she wanted to play, she was going to find a way to play.

Learning to swim helped her gain confidence in all areas as she was no longer going to be a submissive beta to her cousin.

She was no longer going to get pushed aside in the bed with her parents. It was her bed, and she was going to protect it from all comers. When Lola and Casey were in Iowa, Lola completely dominated, but Casey's newfound confidence made her realize that she was bigger and stronger than Lola, and even though Lola had the brains, Casey was willing to use her brawn to get what she wanted. The smackdowns did occasionally get intense as Casey once put a gash in Lola's side, and Lola put a slit in one of Casey's ears. They were definitely rivals, but even rivals can get along at times.

This does not mean that Casey became a great lover of dogs. Even though we frequently took Casey to a dog park down the road, she was there for the ball and human contact and avoided the other dogs as best she could.

She was better friends with the drinking fountain than any dogs. She was also kind of a prick about the water as she would be very territorial around the drinking fountain so no dog could have any while she was there. Even if she was taking a break, she would stand over the fountain and protect it from any thirsty hounds. Since you have to put a positive spin on anything your dog does, I'll just say the K9 Guzzler was her friend, and she was protecting him. What a sweetheart.

She both made and lost a good friend during our time in Plantation.

Lil' Stevie was something I got for free when I switched to Geico Insurance and immediately became one of her favorite toys. As you can see, Lil' Stevie tragically drowned in the swimming pool. But it turns out stuffed lizards can go through drowning and come back just as strong as Casey got it out of the pool and it eventually dried out to be just as strong as ever. He did end up passing away due to excessive stuffing loss, but Casey was quite fond of that lizard.

But she still loved people more than anything and even though she always wanted to play, sometimes a good snuggle would suffice.

Even though she didn't want to share her snuggle buddies with any other pup dogs, she did at least learn to coexist with other dogs.

But with Stef taking a new job, we were off to Bradenton to see what adventures would lie ahead.

Chapter 5: Let's Get Weird

Chapter 5 - Let's Get Weird

After spending some time bumming around on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, we moved to the other coast to Bradenton, Florida where Casey was very happy to be an only child again. It was also very good that she could swim, because we lived less than a mile away from a dog friendly beach, and you would have thought that she was a water dog her entire life from the way she tore out into the bay.


The water went from her greatest fear to her favorite place in the world. She LOVED going to the beach, because I think it was the only activity that could legitimately exhaust her. With all that time on the beach and in the water, she even started displaying a more hip style.

Now I will say that the beach didn't always love her. She wasn't the best at not drinking the water, and that led to some hilarious walks back where she would be blowing out the water from both ends. I will say it was far more entertaining when she did it on walks as opposed to on drives.

Casey was never much of a talker early on. Outside of barking when someone was at the door, she was pretty quiet with everything. We thought it would be hilarious to get her to start talking. Friends and family warned us against this, but we went ahead and did it anyway.

Was this a great decision? No, it was not. But it was a fun decision. It all started with howling, but it evolved into her letting us know about how she felt about needing to go potty, play time, or just the basic need for attention. It was nice to have more of a dialogue with our dog.

Even though she started talking more, this girl was still all about action.

I promise I didn't teach my female dog to hump me like she was a boy, but I certainly wasn't mad about it the first time it was discovered. I'll admit, she humped me...A LOT, but I thought it was hilarious and she got a real kick out of it so it was a win-win situation. Also, it was a great party trick when entertaining guests.

And she used those grappling skills to become a world champion.

As you can see, Hulk gave her a hell of a battle, but she wound up on top at the end.

She also stayed active in more conventional ways as tennis was one of her favorite spectator sports although years later it would evolve into other paddle and ball sports.

This is her in chill mode, just watching all of the action of other people playing tennis. But when she was watching us, she would literally run from side to side hoping that the ball would magically emerge through the fence so she could get in on the action. It was pretty great that we could allow her to be totally loose at the park, and she'd just stay right by the fence because she didn't want to miss a second of the action.

Now running after tennis balls for an entire match can get pretty tiring, so it was good that she knew how to stay hydrated.

That is her perched up on a drinking fountain getting her drink on. She always wanted to associate more with humans than dogs so it is no surprise that she started taking on human characteristics and drinking at our water fountains.

Since we treated her as our child, I had the utmost trust in her. Most people wouldn't intentionally have their dog lunge and bite near their face. I am not most people...

and Casey is not most dogs. One of the things about going through these old pictures and videos is it reminded me how much I had her jump for things. Since her back legs got weaker her last couple years, jumping was something that we took out of the workout equation outside of her getting to a proper resting place, but this dog in her prime had some major ups.

Although she usually stood out from the crowd, she also knew how to blend in and could have made it as a spy had she chosen that profession.

There were so many times where I would look over and just catch her snout and one eye staring over at me, completely still, just taking in my movement to make sure she didn't miss out on anything. It seemed like she was always there.

Being the only dog again and being through a couple moves with us, she got more and more comfortable. And she had a smile on her face no matter what situation you put her in, like my wife dressing her up.

She just didn't care what you did to her as long as you were there to love her. And at that point, that dog could do no wrong in my eyes.

There isn't always a perfect picture for the memories that we made, but it's funny the moments you cherish. We had a school and a park that we would go to get her energy out. One day, when driving to the park, as we were getting closer, she was crying out in excitement and practically jumping out the window. She usually got excited but still managed to stay in the car without any worries, but she was totally amped for this day. At least that's what I thought.

As I was pulling in to park, I smelled it before I saw it. It turns out she wasn't so excited to play that she wanted to jump out of the car, she just really needed to poop. Instead, she pooped all over the passenger seat in my car. Convincing a weimaraner to stay still after she just pooped in the car is an impossible task, so Casey was just stomping all over the place spreading the poop from her seat to the center console over to my seat. And I found every bit of it hysterical.

Luckily, the park had a bathroom nearby so I was able to at least do a cursory wipe with paper towels immediately. We definitely then went and had a blast throwing the ball, because there was no need to waste a good trip to the park just because there was a little poop on the interior of my car. After taking her home, I gave it a good cleaning, but the windows were definitely down as often as possible over the next few weeks.

Even though it did me wrong that time, I still loved Casey's booty.

And that's the "end" (get it?) of our time in Bradenton, Florida. Stef took a new job, and we were heading up the coast to Clearwater, the city where we would settle down, but it would take us another year before we found the house for Casey to settle down in.

Chapter 6: She Owned Me

Chapter 6 - She Owned Me

In 2015, we moved up to Clearwater for my wife's new job, and Casey finally realized that unlike her family that moved to Alaska, we were never going to leave this dog behind. Still, she wasn't going to take any chances, so she showed her willingness to do anything to stick around.

When those suitcases came out, she did anything to go along for the ride. But I promise we didn't shut the trunk on her with a suitcase, air pump, and half container of antifreeze. We made sure that that goofball was well-loved.

As long as she had her human contact, she was good to go.

Casey loved her car rides, even though I often got in trouble for the freedom I gave her in the car. Stef was very cautious, and for good reason. Stef gave Casey car freedom early on with Casey's head out the window, enjoying that fresh Iowa air. And then as Stef was cruising down a fairly busy street (for Iowa), Casey just upped and jumped out of the moving vehicle. It happened so fast that Stef barely knows what happened, but somehow, Casey just got a little scraped up and was really no worse for the wear.

Hence, she was always hesitant to give Casey much freedom, but I attributed her jump out of the car to youthful exuberance and did my best to let her fully enjoy life.

Note: This is a residential street with no other cars around. And if the police are reading this, we did everything on a closed course with professional stunt drivers and cameramen. 

More importantly, Casey was also my favorite road tripping pal of all time.

Since she needed to be in on the action, Casey sat shotgun on road trips while my wife was stuck in the backseat. This way she could get attention from me when she wanted some chest scratchies, or she could jump to the back to snuggle with her Mom. The only issue I had with her as a road tripping companion is sometimes she would stare at me while I was driving, and she would simply be too cute. My wife had an issue of sometimes Casey would want to snuggle her face against mine, partially blinding me from the road, but I just thought that was incredibly cute, and I'm still alive, so no harm done.

We drove a few miles to get to a park that fit both of our needs. Casey learned a new sport as we balled out together.

She had trained for football, obsessed over tennis, and now she was ready to challenge Air Bud in the world of basketball. Her offense was nonexistent, but that defense was top notch.

Not only did Casey know that we weren't going anywhere, but the reverse was true as well, so I started to give her a little more freedom on her walks.

I know it looks like she is madly, deeply in love with me, and that's probably true, but the real reason she is staring up at me is because I was holding her orange ball which was basically better than a leash in controlling her every move. 

Casey was a dog that constantly evolved. She got better and better at using her paws to hold things in place. 

Okay, so she still wasn't perfect. But it also shows that she loved her most beat up toys. If she tore a tail off a stuffed animal, she would not want to play with the entire body and head, she would think the tail was the only thing that mattered. Whatever was the smallest, nastiest part of a toy, that turned out to be her favorite. I'm looking at the remnants of a toy in the video above and couldn't even tell you what it started out as. A fish, maybe? But it made her happy, so we went with it until the concern of choking hazard became too much and we had to throw it out.

Speaking of toys, if you picked out a toy from a place, she would assume that place had an endless amount of toys. If it was from a plastic bag from the store, we could just throw out the toy portal that was located in a plastic bag, but if you gave her a toy from a nightstand, this happened.

She would just stare and cry for you to open the drawer and get her more toys from the toy portal. You could open that drawer and show her that no toys were in there, but that was only a short-term fix as in her heart of hearts, she knew that eventually that toy drawer would pay off again. We ended up putting another toy in there just to see the joy on her stupid little face.

She was shockingly good with children. When we lived up in Iowa, she would slip her ball through the corner of the fence so the neighbor kids could throw it back over for her. When people with kids came in town, she always made an effort to become best buds with the little ones.

Really, Casey did well with people of all ages.

With me, she would pull hard and buck and swing and do most everything. But with people weaker, she did know how to dial it back in order to maximize the attention she was receiving. Here she just stuffs her toy in Stef's Grandma's lap and then waits patiently, well maybe not patiently.

Her constant need to be involved in everything extended to the community pool.

I took Casey out for a walk while Stef was lounging by the pool, and once Casey heard Stef's voice, she was bound and determined to see her Mom. She may have very well been able to wedge herself through, but I had to put the kibosh on that idea. Casey never wanted to miss out on anything, and she would go to great lengths to make that happen.

The next story is told in three pictures. The first is Casey chasing Stef on a bike. Stef could just ride up and down the street, and Casey would just cruise right on behind her, following wherever she may go.

Obviously, we thought this was super cute, so Stef wanted me to get a picture of those two posing together that would be an adorable moment that was captured forever. Casey was a little too excited to actually look at the camera, so instead we captured this moment.

I laugh every time I see this picture. Stef is giving the sternest point ever, and for some crazy reason, Casey The Dog does not understand that hard point means look at the camera and smile. She looks like the most terrified pup, like Stef's her pageant Mom forcing her to put on a performance that she doesn't want to do. I love it. Luckily, Stef got her picture, kind of.

Apparently the stern point did not work, but you take what you can get.

On top of being a sweet dog, she was also very brave. Here is Casey during a thunderstorm, and as you can see, she's showing tremendous courage in order for her parents to stay calm.

Okay, so maybe bravery wasn't her thing, but it all paid off when she got comfortable.

Even though she could be a bit of a spaz, she was a relaxing presence in our lives.

Here she is, helping me with an early morning yoga session. I was always the early riser, so Casey would follow me around in the mornings and stay close, because she couldn't miss out. Although we didn't always do the same stretching routine, it was good to get our stretch and breathing on before facing the day.

My relationship with Casey could best be described as weirdly obsessive. I was obsessed with her, and she was obsessed with me, so our obsession led to us doing a lot of weird shit. Here's a photo of two pals just being totally normal.

I know I wasn't her Mommy, but sometimes I liked to play the role and feed her baby bird style.

We did this EVERY SINGLE STEAK NIGHT. There was never a time where I wouldn't put a fatty piece of meat in my mouth and have her gently take it from my lips. She wasn't the greatest steak hunter, but she got the job done.

I know it seems like Casey was the perfect dog, but she did occasionally get in trouble. It was almost always for getting in the bathroom trash and causing a mess. I would start yelling at her, and then she would give this look.

How could I be mad at the saddest dog ever? Clearly she was sorry, and that sad little face with those floppy ears drooping down as low as they could go, how could I get mad? So the discipline got less and less harsh until this is what she looked like when she knew she did something bad.

She's got the ears going, kind of, but she was also super excited to see me since I just got home so she had a massive smile on her face while also knowing that she messed up. There were definitely times where I pleaded, "Will you at least stop smiling and look sad about what you did?" But she just really wanted scratchies from her Pop Pop, and I really wanted to give her those scratchies. My dog owned me.

Speaking of her owning me, we'll end this year with one of my favorite pictures.

Here's us, after an intense session of playing ball at the field down from our house. She's laying in the shade, surrounded by the drool and splashes of water that she just had from her bowl. I told her, "Let's go home," and she literally laughed right in my face. I'm glad she did. If she would have done what I asked, I would have been happy once, but seeing this happy face will forever bring a smile to mine.

Chapter 7: The New House