Huckleberry’s “Gotcha” Day
I fell in love with Huckleberry from the moment I met him on January 5, 2008. But, truth be told, I’d been smitten ever since I first saw his adorable puppy photo posted on the Petfinder website.
He was 8 weeks old, playfully chasing chickens around the huge yard of his foster family before excusing himself to make a poop right in the middle of their garage (as my 6-year-old daughter and I laughed hysterically).
Along with his siblings and his mom (an Australian Shepherd mix), he’d been rescued from underneath the porch of an empty house just before Christmas.
After a lengthy vetting process with West Georgia Pet Rescue, I’d been selected to adopt Huckleberry because I had a fenced-in yard, knew a lot about training dogs, and worked from home, so I could be with him 24/7.
I knew how to train dogs because I’d adopted a Siberian Husky, Angel, back in the late ’90s, and went through multiple levels of Obedience School to try to tame her breed’s inherently wild nature.
By the end of 2007, I could tell that Angel’s health was starting to fade, and I simply couldn’t bear the thought of ever coming home to an empty house.
Add the increasing sense of loneliness I felt after 5 years of being a divorced dad, and it’s fair to say that I needed this sweet little puppy just as much as he needed me. We became fast friends, with lots of hugs and puppy kisses to bond us.
My daughter wanted to name him Sparkleberry, but I convinced her that it didn’t suit such a handsome boy. Instead I suggested Huckleberry, after two of my favorite childhood characters, Huckleberry Finn and Huckleberry Hound.
The name stuck, and Huckleberry proved to be an inherently good-natured dog who yearned to please. Angel passed away less than two months later, so he quickly became an integral part of our little family.
Our Growing Family
Huckleberry and I grew closer and closer during his first year. As a puppy, he loved to lay on my chest and sleep, followed me everywhere (as a good herding dog should), and was always up for fetching tennis balls or playing tug-of-war.
My daughter was with her mom half the time and I worked from home, so Huck became like my second child. He was a very good boy, and with my training quickly learned how to sit, stay, fetch, walk on a leash without pulling, etc.
In early December 2008, I met Mary at a Christmas party and we soon fell madly in love.
She was a Psychology major who managed a company that did personality assessments for corporate executives. By our 5th date, it became clear that she knew precisely what kind of man I was, and that she absolutely adored me for it.
Things were getting serious, so we decided it was time for Mary and Huck to meet. She hadn’t had a dog in 20+ years, and he was very cautious at first. But after she took him for his first walk around her neighborhood, they became fast friends.
Not long after that, we met Mary’s new neighbor, who had a large Goldendoodle puppy that was as friendly as could be. But when the dog tried to greet Mary, Huckleberry jumped in between them, growled lowly, and raised his hackles.
It was clear that Mary was now part of Huckleberry’s pack. We moved in together at the end of 2009, launched our first website (Green Global Travel) in 2010, and lived, worked, and traveled together 24/7/365.
Unless we were traveling internationally, Huckleberry was pretty much always by our side. And 2010 was also the year that we bought our pontoon boat, so we began taking him to the lake with us 3-4 times a week.
For some reason Huck was afraid of water, but he loved when we beached our boat and let him roam the quiet coves. He’d often sit on the very back of the boat when we were in the water, keeping watch and barking if one of us went too far away.
Lake Allatoona became our second home, and we created so many wonderful memories there over the years.
The Adventures of Huck & Boo
By 2016, we sensed that Huckleberry was starting to slow down a bit. He’d put on some weight, so we decided it was time to bring another rescued puppy into our family.
Enter Buddy (a.k.a. Boo-Boo), a gorgeous little 8-week-old Cocker Spaniel/Papillon mix. Our running gag was that Huckleberry was our puppy, and Boo-Boo was his puppy.
Buddy and Huckleberry couldn’t have been more different. Huck was good-natured and easy-going, loved attention, and had a chill vibe like “the Dude” in The Big Lebowski. His only bad habit was herding us when we went into the kitchen, and “snoofing” for fallen scraps.
Boo-Boo, on the other hand, had LOTS of personality and “little man” attitude. He was anxious and cautious, barked at almost every sound (including wind rustling in trees), and was a stinker when it came to obedience training.
But he LOVED to play, and would pounce on Huckleberry and try to get the older dog to chase him every chance he got. The need to work off Buddy’s excess energy led to more/longer walks, which in turned helped Huck slim down.
In Spring of 2017 we introduced Boo-Boo to Lake Allatoona, and I’ll never forget the look of sheer joy on his face the first time we let him run free. He and Huck soon became adventure buddies, with Boo following him pretty much everywhere he went.
When my daughter left home to go to college, Huckleberry and I became closer than ever. Buddy tends to run hot and cold, but Huck was always up for a cuddle.
I’d wrap my arms around him in a big bear hug, and scratch the spots behind his ears and the little wishbone marking in the center of his forehead until he’d fall asleep, making contended little “grunty piggy” sounds that were his puppy snores.
We started traveling with them much more often, taking them to explore numerous state parks and Blue Ridge Mountain towns such as Blue Ridge GA, Ellijay GA, Helen GA, Banner Elk NC, Hot Springs NC, and Robbinsville NC.
After the first COVID lockdown ended, they accompanied us on our first Blue Ridge Parkway road trip, one of my all-time favorite adventures we had together. Despite being nearly 13 years old, Huckleberry hiked those trails like a champ!
Slowing Down
Huckleberry had some recurring health issues in recent years, including arthritis and vision/hearing loss. But still his vet (and most people who met him) said he was in incredible shape for an Aussie Shepherd his age.
It wasn’t until 2023, when he fell flat on his face while we were hiking the short, relatively easy Silver Run Falls Trail in Cashiers NC that we began to realize our beloved boy was really slowing down.
He started missing the ramp onto our boat when he tried to jump, stopped climbing up on the sofa for our nightly “couch snuggles,” often had trouble standing up after naps, and didn’t want to do our 2-3 mile walks anymore.
We chalked it up to his advanced age (15 is VERY old for an Aussie), got him on medications and supplements that seemed to help some, and generally decided that we needed to let him take it easy.
Mary and I agreed that we should stop traveling internationally (even though we still run our international travel website), and decided that in 2024 that we would only go on trips where we could take the dogs with us.
So it was that we wound up taking our boys on vacation to Vilano Beach/St Augustine FL for Mary’s birthday in late February. It was Boo-Boo’s first time at the beach, and we rented a lovely house within walking distance of the ocean.
It was an amazing location close to Mary’s Aunt Judy, and we had a wonderful birthday dinner with the most incredible sunset. Unfortunately, we got home to find that Huckleberry had fallen on the slick vinyl flooring and couldn’t get up.
He’d strained his muscles in the struggle, so we had to pick him up to go upstairs to the bedroom, or outside to go to the bathroom. Eventually he became too weak to stand, as his legs kept splaying underneath him.
We elected to cut our trip short, came home a day early, and got a vet appointment the following morning. We were extremely scared that it might be Huckleberry’s time, and prayed the doctor could help ease his pain.
A friend who had an arthritic dog suggested we try Librela, a relatively new “miracle drug” for dogs with osteoarthritis. Our vet agreed, and Huckleberry’s turn-around in the first 24 hours after getting the shot was truly remarkable.
It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye
One caution our vet gave us was that Librela is considered an “end-of-life” drug. Meaning that, while it focuses on treating pain and symptoms and improving quality of life, it is usually given at the tail end of a dog’s lifespan.
So we knew our days with Huckleberry were limited, and just wanted him to be pain-free. Librela did the job: He was standing up in the car on the way home, and walked upstairs to our bedroom multiple times in the days after the shot.
In March he was able to take longer walks, and became much more active, affectionate, and engaged. There was a newfound gleam in his eyes and a spring in his step that we hadn’t seen in months.
Still, we treated every day as if it could be his last, giving him more treats, more affection, and more time. And so it was that we wound up spending several days at the lake in March, where we made a life-changing discovery.
For 6 years we’ve been saving for a lake house in the mountains. But on a fateful day in late March, we saw a classic 1966 houseboat at our marina that we’ve always loved with a “For Sale” sign on it. Three days later, it was ours!
The previous owners spent $40,000-$50,000 updating the boat, and they left all the furniture and other decor. So all we needed to do was add some finishing touches to accommodate Huckleberry’s poor vision, and it was ready.
We spent a lot of time at the lake in April and May. After spending a few nights on the boat, Huckleberry always seemed to have extra pep in his step.
When we came home on Friday, May 31, he was so happy and bouncy, I actually said to Mary, “He looks so good, I wonder if we might have another year with him?”
Sadly, it was not to be. Though he seemed great the next morning, he refused to eat his dinner Saturday night, and around 6pm he started vomiting. After noticing what looked like blood mixed with mucous, we rushed him to the emergency vet.
They quickly drew blood and took x-rays, and within a few hours we had our diagnosis: Two cancerous masses, large enough that Mary sobbed when we saw them. We looked at each other and immediately agreed that it was time to say goodbye.
We laid on the floor with him for nearly an hour before calling the vet in to send him over the Rainbow Bridge.
I held him close, stroked his fur lovingly, and told him what an amazing dog he had been, and that it was OK to rest now. Mary and I held him and each other as they injected the medicine, and I didn’t let go until long after his spirit left his body.
I’ve had many dogs over the course of my lifetime, and Huck was not the first I’ve had to put down. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that he was the best damn dog I’ve ever had, and there will never be another like him.
We are sad beyond measure, and miss him every single day, especially when we visit his favorite coves on the lake.
But we also feel extremely blessed to have had 16+ years with him, and we dream of the day when we’ll all be united on the other side. –by Bret Love; photos by Bret Love & Mary Gabbett
