I wrote this to make sure that I remembered. I don't want to forget. But I know Casey doesn't care about being remembered; she's a dog, she couldn't even understand the concept. Remembering Casey makes me happy, and I think she would be happy to know that she still brings joy to our lives.
Speaking of weird bathroom things, I have pulled poop directly out of her butt. The first time, there was slight hesitation, but once you break that barrier, you do it without any thought.
I had a couple years where I had to travel about once a month for work. Casey wasn't a huge fan of this. She would try to attach herself any time that I brought out the suitcase as she felt that she should be going with me. One time, she decided she wouldn't let me leave. My Uber had arrived, so I gave her hugs and kisses, and then grabbed my bags to head out. When I opened the door, Casey got as low to the ground as she could and snuck out before I could grab her. She then proceeded to sprint outside and immediately laid behind my car, because she thought that if my car didn't leave, I couldn't leave. Although that wasn't quite true, I still couldn't leave Casey outside forever to just hang out until Stef got back home. I tried to coax her in with everything I could think of, but that dog was not moving. Finally, I scooped up her 70 pounds of dead weight to bring her inside. I set her down when we got back in, and she immediately tried to pull the same maneuver again, but I was ready this time. I both loved that she was that attached to me and SUPER bummed that I still had to leave her.
I had to be on high alert if Casey was at the park, and there were other people there. I would fire her ball as far as I could, and she would start to come back to me but then spot some strangers, aka friends she hadn't met yet, and veer off to give them her ball. She just KNEW that everybody wanted the opportunity to throw her ball for her. She wasn't subtle about it either as she would go right between their legs before dropping the ball at their feet. Weirdly, at home, she wouldn't want to give anyone else her toys outside of me, because she was so obsessed with showing off for guests, and she knew I was a sucker and would continually throw for her.
So it wasn't always just Casey and I at the park, and sometimes whoever we were with didn't want to just hang out and watch me shoot hoops and throw Casey's ball so they'd take a lap on the walking trail. Casey was having none of this. There was one time where I threw her ball, she got it, and shot right past me to hit up the park trail and nearly a quarter mile of winding trails finally tracked down Stef as I was stuck trying to keep up. Casey had a bad case of FOMO.
The area that I threw the ball had a sand volleyball court next to the basketball court. Stef came to the park with us, because every time I came back with Casey, she was covered in sand despite me never throwing the ball into the sand. She was convinced that she could keep Casey out of the sand, while I laughed and wished her luck. Sure enough, the first throw Casey is coming back and heading directly back to us through the grass when she inexplicably takes a hard left turn into the sand and before Stef could yell for her to stop she was already covered yet again. It was a habit at that point, and Casey was definitely a creature of habit. When we walked to the park, she had to cross the street at the exact same spot or she would just put the brakes on and refuse to move. It's not the most convenient place to cross, but I still take that same route when Spencer and I go to the park.
Casey loved to sunbathe as she would just plop down in the driveway with the sun shining down on her and totally relax. I don't know how it could have been comfortable, but she was as serene as can be when she was getting that sweet, sweet Vitamin D.
I talked some about how great of a road trip buddy Casey was, but there was one thing I loved and one thing I hated that I couldn't fit in earlier. The thing I loved is how much she needed to be near me in the car. She would paw at me for scratchies, rest her head on my shoulder, and a lot of times try to nuzzle my face and partially block my view of the road. It was so cute, and it was only partial blindness, so I let it slide.
One thing that did irritate me with long car trips with my ladies was of course not Casey's fault. Stef would start howling in the car to get Casey to howl, and being in a confined space while a dog howls is one of the loudest things in the world. I was none too pleased, but I knew Casey The Dog was just a victim of peer pressure.
When my wife and I got married, she agreed to stay married to me for three years. That seemed like a reasonable amount of time to give it a shot, but if I sucked, my ass was grass. I continually used Casey to get extensions, and we are just over six years into marriage, but we have extended our marriage agreement to 14 years. Casey deserves most of the credit for those extra 11 years.
Casey was also my infidelity insurance as we agreed that whoever cheated on the other one would lose custody of the dog. I mean, I trusted my wife either way, but it was pretty nice to have that Casey insurance as I knew there was no chance she would cheat if she lost time with CTD.
Once Stef became pregnant, Casey became VERY protective of her. Anytime that I would hug or kiss Stef, Casey would start barking at me. Well, kind of at me. She would look off to the side and start barking, but she was clearly very anxious that I was going to crush the baby inside her belly with my super strength. Sometimes she would scoot right between my legs and try to wedge herself between us to keep her Mom and baby brother safe. It was adorable.
I love this picture of Stef and Casey. Stef is snuggled in Casey's little dog bed, and Casey has her back half in there with her front half far too big to also fit in the bed. But despite that, she is as comfortable as can be, because she's got the reassuring touch of Stef on her.
As much as Casey loved to play, she loved us even more, and although we'll definitely get another dog, we can never replace Casey.
There are so many things that remind me of Casey. But nothing more so than seeing Stef and Spencer together. The way that he smiles when he sees her, the way they play together, and the way he finds comfort in her arms. That unbreakable bond; it's what Casey and I had. I know she was just a dog, but that "just a dog" did just as much for me as I did for her. I don't cry every day about her anymore, but I still cry, because I'm never going to stop missing her.
People talk about a baby changing you as a person, but I never really had that game changing moment with Spencer. That's because I knew he was our second child, and it was Casey who was the true game changer in our life.
My son exists because of Casey. I know Casey wouldn't care about being remembered, but that's where she'll live on. He would not be here without that stupid dog. Who knows where I'd be? I'm just happy I never have to find out.
I'm writing this a little over six months after she passed (not sure when I'll actually be ready to publish), and I still think about her every day. She was the best, and she loved every day of life, right to the very end. So to honor that thought, let's end this with a bunch of cute pictures and stories that I couldn't fit in anywhere else.
Early on, even before Stef and I had moved in together, Casey had one time where she was actually brave. She'd have to go potty in the middle of the night, so I'd let her out, and instead of just getting her business done and coming back, she found the one missing board in the fence and hopped on out to explore. So there I was, at 2AM, hopping the fence and trying to find the dog in the pitch black of night. I would eventually find her, she would act like both the sorriest and most scared dog there has ever been, and then sprint back into the yard where she would wait for me by the back door. Then, that little prick would give me a look like, "Uh, where have you been? I've been trying to get inside so I can go back to bed."
Later on in life, she would refuse to go potty if she was on a leash at night. If you took her off the leash, she would go and do her business. But she would just stand at the doorway if she was on a leash and look at you like you were the idiot. She also liked to emerge from the house barking her face off at night. Usually, it was at nothing so not a huge deal, but occasionally there were people outside, and people don't love when a dog comes out aggressively barking and isn't on a leash. Since she couldn't bark sorry, I had to apologize on her behalf.
It's funny looking back how early on that I thought this dog could do no wrong. Way back in our time in Bettendorf, Stef's brother stayed with us for the summer. The night before, Stef made funfetti cupcakes, and they were delicious. When I got home from work the next day, I was looking forward to having a few more. But they were all gone. Apparently, her brother had quite the sweet tooth. I'm not one to sweet-tooth shame someone as I can binge when the time is right. Still, Stef brought it up to him, and he denied it. The only explanation was that he was ashamed of himself for knocking out six cupcakes in one afternoon as I could not think of any other explanation. Casey was an angel, and you could literally lay a steak on a plate right in front of her face, and she wouldn't touch it. Still, I went back to the scene of the crime, and on the buffet where the cupcakes once laid, I saw it. Claw marks. Casey had hopped up, ate the cupcakes, wrapper and all, but her nails stopped it from being the perfect crime. When I thought it was Stef's brother, not gonna lie, I was a little perturbed. When I found out it was Casey, I appreciated the hustle.
I know I mentioned how Casey didn't care for dogs, but she not only didn't care for them, she wanted to make other dogs look bad. When we lived in Iowa, our backyard had a corner of the fence where there were three other dogs' yards were connected. Casey would sprint to the corner of the fence and bark once or twice aggressively, and the other dogs all went crazy. Then, Casey would trot away as if she did nothing. She was basically the action hero walking away from the massive explosion behind her. She was such an asshole, and I loved it.
As a man, I never put the seat down after finishing my business. My wife really wanted me to, especially after she almost fell in during the middle of the night, but I was stuck in my ways. Then she mentioned that Casey might get sick drinking out of the toilet, and I immediately changed my ways. I still put the seat and lid down after going both 1 and 2.
When we were packing up the UHaul to leave Iowa for Florida, I encouraged Casey to get in the truck. I thought she would walk up the ramp, but instead she side-stepped the ramp took a couple steps and tried to leap into the back of the truck. Her front half made it up, but it was wet, and there was nothing to grip on when she got that half up, so I watched as she slowly slid backwards with a look of total shock and confusion on her face. She landed hard on the ground, but she bounced right back up with a smile on her face. I went from totally scared for her to laughing my ass off when I realized she was fine. She fell out of a UHaul, jumped out of a moving car, and ran her head into about a thousand different things and was never phased by any of it, so I gotta give it up for Casey's durability.
Casey also knew that Stef needed her rest, so around 8:00 PM, she would stand in the hallway while we were in the living room and she would start crying, because she had decided that this was the time that we all needed to head back to bed. I mean, we weren't night owls to begin with, but Casey did her best to make sure that we got our beauty rest.
This photo is not a great one, but it is important. Casey was particular and peculiar, and nothing better exemplifies that than that stupid red water bowl on the left side of the picture. We put it outside in case she got thirsty, but she almost completely stopped drinking from her regular dish inside, and she would cry by the door as she just needed to go to the pool area to get her outdoor water. So that dog would literally be crying for water while standing directly next to her water dish in the kitchen. Indoor water just wouldn't do it anymore. Sure, sometimes it was a pain in the ass, but I still loved it, because Casey's joy was my joy.
She'll always be my #1 Pup Dog.
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