a lover and a fighter

as most of you who follow our silly little family blog know, we usually keep it light and funny and try to focus on brooks and our adventures in colorado.  but today our hearts are heavy and our house is sad. 

five and a half years ago, on a whim, i decided to get a dog - a cute, fluffy, white little dog - arnold palmer, or arnie as everyone knows him.  my roommates were gracious and richard (my boyfriend at the time) helped me pick him up, put together his first crate and take care of him from day one.

over the years, we loved arnie for the crazy, energetic dog that he was and also had many moments of frustration with him as he did silly things that we couldn't understand.  while he loved us so well, licking us every chance he had, he always had a part of him that we couldn't get under control, a scared and aggressive little dog, that would come up unexpectantly once in a while.  even after working with trainers and dog whisperers for the last few years, arnie bit one of our neighbors on friday afternoon coming home from a walk.  we had seen such improvemnt in his behavior, but as our trainer told us on saturday, his problem isn't going to be something we can fix. she commended us on our work with arnie and the loving home we gave him.  after much thought, converstaion, and tears we decided that the best and safest thing for our family was to put arnie to sleep. 

thank you to all of you out there who loved arnie over the years.  we spent the weekend remembering old stories of him, fun trips he had taken and the countless things he had eaten that he shouldn't have.  we want to remember the loving and licking dog that brought so much joy and laughter to our house and we pray that wherever arnie is now, he is not anxious or scared or sad. 

Arnie's 1st christmas in Denver - he loved the 3 feet of snow we had for much of the winter!

Arnie loved having more dogs at our house, but always wanted to take their beds instead of his own. 

Arnie on a hike at Cherry Creek Resevoir

Arnie hiking and playing in the water at Booth Falls in Vail, CO.

Arnie on his first and only 14er.

Arnie and Xander

Arnie and Brooks - lots of kisses all the time!

we miss him already.