Last night I had the unwelcome and heartbreaking task of bringing our Moose to the vet for euthanasia. He was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer a while ago and thankfully lived longer than the time he was given. He also lived it being spoiled and given even more attention than he was already given. He did not suffer, as I refused to allow this happy sweetheart of a dog to go down that path. He stopped eating and drinking on Wednesday, but aside from being very tired and sleepy, did not show any signs of his illness. He was wagging his tail almost to the very end. The vet said that the timing was right, as another day or two, he would have had excruciating stomach and muscle pain. As hard as this was, we all felt this was the right thing for him.
   His last days were sad for us, but not so much for him. He spent his very last days being visited by a fairly constant stream of people who came buy to say their last good byes. He was kissed, hugged and petted for much of the day. He was taken for walks, and talked to, had his picture taken many times, and I was touched and amazed by the reaction of so many people. People pulled out their phones and called others to tell them that they should come down and say good bye. Who would have thought that Moose actually had a network of friends like that!? Moose definitely made a lot of friends in his five years here. Sometimes in my posts I say that I am always surprised by peoples concern for me, and interest in my family, because, hell, I'm just the beer guy. Yesterday I got to see it from the outside, as so many people were so sad and concerned about Moose. Again, he's just the dog at the beer store. I guess he was more than that to so many people.
   The amount of grown men & women who were brought to tears as they sat on the floor with him saying their good byes was something special to see. As different as we all are, we have so much common ground. Even some of the "tough guys" were teary eyed. That is a pretty special thing for our Moose.
  I want to take a moment to thank all of you who were so concerned about him since we found out he was so sick. All of you who came to see him and make his last days happier as well. I especially want to thank Mike and Luci, as well as Colin and his family for taking Moose to their homes at night, so he would be comfortable, and have someone there at night if he was in any trouble. He definitely had a special lifestyle in his last months! I would also like to thank the "Moose walkers" Christian, Mike, Sean, and Colin. You guys stopped by just to take Moose for walks. He loved that! You guys also know that he loved you. He always lit up when he heard your voice.
  For a dog that I tried feverishly to give away for the first month or so that he was here, he became such an important piece of the Bellport Cold Beer & Soda family. After staring at me for four straight days through the front door, on the night of Christmas eve, after I had sent everyone home so the could eat with their families, It started to pour, and it was an insane rain, coming down like a monsoon. There he was, still a puppy (about 6-8 months old) staring at me through the front door glass with those sad eyes. I just couldn't take it anymore. I opened the door, said "I give up. come in here." and so it began. I had him housebroken in about five days, and trained to do the simple stuff (sit, stay, lay down, don't take my fingers off when I feed you) in another few days. I still was willing to give him away to a good home, but the only people who wanted him just wanted him for breeding, or worse, fighting. So he never went anywhere. He loved it here from the start. Other than running in the parking lot and biting peoples tailpipes, he was extremely well behaved, and quickly became a favorite of not only mine, but so many of our customers/friends.
  I trained him to protect me, but be docile otherwise, and he did just that. Nobody believed he would be a tough guy if you grabbed me, and a few stupidly tested the theory, but he was really much smarter than we ever gave him credit for. When we tried to come up with a mane for him that was beer related we came up with a bunch, but Moose, short the majestic "Moosehead Von Stupid Ass"  (hey, it was collaborative and he really did seem stupid at the time) was the one we thought fit him best! As he grew from the 55 pound pup to the 80+ pound beast he was, "Moose" even seemed more appropriate.
  All in all, he was a great dog. He loved attention, and loved his family and friends.
It is now very apparent that they loved him too. We will all miss Moose, but at least we all had him here to make us happy. He helped bring out the human in us.
Thanks everyone.