RIP Arlo

My very best friend. Goodbye Arlo

Those that know me, know that I am an absolute animal lover. My favorite animal is the dog, man's best friend. Today, I lost my best friend, Arlo. He was 12 years old. His journey was quite the interesting one and I am overjoyed that he got to spend it with my family.

When we first saw Arlo we immediately knew he was a Hendricks. We were at the dog pound in Russellville in 1998 to get my younger brother a dog for Christmas/his birthday. We were looking at all these dogs and none were quite what we were looking for. Then we saw him. A new born half black lab, half Dalmation puppy that was actually climbing up the gate. He was our dog.

We took him home and introduced him. I was living in McCook at the time attending McCook Community College so it was up to mom and Will to train him.

At the time they were living in a duplex that had a strict no animal policy. Naturally they were eventually caught and were told to either get rid of the dog or move out. Mom took the simple solution and gave Arlo to my older brother Brandon.

When Brandon went off to the Navy his then girlfriend offered to look after him while Brandon was gone. No one at the time foresaw that the living situation would not change. As you all know we lost Brandon in 2001. My mom let his girlfriend keep Arlo and she sent her money every month.

In 2004 when I made the decision to move back to Russellville, Will moved into a house with a fenced in back yard. Naturally he wanted his dog back. So Will and mom went to get Arlo only to find out that Brandon's girlfriend had given Arlo and her dog away a few weeks earlier.

Fortunately the people that had taken Arlo were more than happy to let Arlo back into our family.

Shortly after my mom bought herself a house Will moved out of his house and Arlo came to live with us in the last house he would ever live in.

Arlo and I quickly bonded again. By now he was 8 and close to 90 pounds and yet he still believe he was a lap dog. He always slept in my full size bed with me.

When I married Nicki last year I left Arlo with mom.

Yesterday we found out that Arlo had cancer. It felt like a punch in the gut. I went over to see him today around noon. Mom and I walked into our living room and Arlo, naturally, followed us. That is when I noticed the limp. Mom started feeling around and Arlo reacted in sever pain. I left to go back home.

At 6:30 as I was headed for work, mom called to inform me that Arlo was probably going to have to be put down. That is how fast this went. By the time the doctor arrived Arlo was no longer even moving. They gave him a shot to let him relax and he passed. Mom assured me that he was never apparently in pain and the doctor herself said that Arlo would have died naturally within a half hour. He had died from complications of internal bleeding. There is no telling what caused it and it was not caught because it was simply not looked for.

Arlo would have been 12 in December. He was my buddy, my friend, but more than anything he was my best friend.

Thank you Arlo for giving me 12 years of unquestioning love and loyalty. Your time is over. Now it is time to go keep Brandon company and play like you did right up to the last days.

I was not prepared for this. I thought I had time. He was just diagnosed with cancer on Friday. We all thought that the cancer would be removed and everything would be fine. I was not ready for him to be gone the very next day. I got to see him on his last day before the internal bleeding took over. He was his usual self, tail wagging, sniffing all over me. I will never forget how he actually smiled whenever I came over.

The last two days have been very painful and immensely saddening for me.

I am going to mourn now.

Goodnight friends.