Rio

Rio was adopted in Phoenix on July 22, 2020 during Covid. She was 8 when I adopted her. They brought her out for me to meet and she laid down and rolled over, showing me her belly. She was the one. I was in Arizona teaching middle school art during the Pandemic (which I decided was my last teaching job of my career). 

I lucked out - she was so smart, sensitive, loyal, friendly to everyone she met. I could read her facial expressions. She showed worry, fear, happiness, excitement. She smiled after our hikes and on car rides. We were bonded immediately. She was my child, my best friend, my hiking partner. 

She loved to chase her ball and bring it back, eat an ice cube, sleep on the foot of my bed, go on car trips, hike, camp, travel cross country. We traveled around Arizona - Grand Canyon, Lake Pleasant, Petrified Forest National Park, Lyman Lake State Park, Tombstone, White Tank Mountains, Brown's Ranch, McDowell, Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott and more. We took a very long road trip from Phoenix, up the Eastern Sierras, to Hopland, California and back, camping the whole way...and then made the cross country move to Massachusetts in June, 2022 - and with Rio I revisited the state parks and the Trustees sites I knew from living here 19 years prior.

She did everything with me from taking out the trash, to getting the mail, to taking a nap. I took her everywhere I could except work and into a store. I told her when I went to work her job was to watch the doors and windows, and watch the house. I hated to be away at work without her. She was also sad when I left. I called her Gooby Gooby and her other nicknames were Beluga and Turkey. She always stopped to smell the flowers on our walks. She loved to play hide and seek with her ball - I would hide it in the house and she would run around until she found it. 

She was my sweet girl - so kind, so playful, so intelligent. I hugged and kissed her all the time. She loved her bandanas, having her hair brushed, and ran around happy after a bath. She loved her meatball morsels and beef jerky treats. She would shake and I would say "paw" for her left, and "other" for her right. She sat, rolled over, laid down, shook paws, waited, and stayed. When hiking she would wait if she got too far ahead on her leash or there was a steep downhill. She would check on me and look back for me. If she wanted to go to the dog park - she would stop and look up at me to tell me she wanted to go. 

I am so happy I found her and gave her my love and a safe home. I never knew the story of why she was surrendered at 8 years old. 2 years was not long enough with her. Her vet had said "retriever mix - she can go to 15 years." That was not true in this case. It was 10. I will always miss her and think of all the time we spent together. I am grieving so much right now.

I really believe she came into my life 2 weeks after I had to put down my 20 year old cat Hazel (kidney disease/failure) then she got me through the tough time of being alone in Phoenix in the extreme heat and the brutal teaching position during the Pandemic. She was my emotional support, my friend, and my companion. She was my angel. We moved at the end of June, 2022, I was then searching for a job for 9 weeks. The day I finalized the job, she was gone. 

She was euthanized on 9-6-22 after a medical emergency - sudden white/pale gums and labored breathing (pericardial effusion) and the ER vet found a mass on her heart after performing pericardiocentesis and an ultrasound. Prognosis was grim so I decided to not put her through anymore. If I was able to take her home, I did not want her dying alone in my home when I wasn't there. I didn't want her to experience the labored breathing and pale gums again. I made the horrible decision to put her down, ending my best friend's life, but only thinking of her quality of life. I had promised her I would always make the best decision I could and I would not have her suffer if it came to that - so I had to follow through on that promise to her. It was terminal (HSA). No cure. Would she be able to jump in the car and go for a hike? What happens when I was at work? Vet didn't even suggest surgery as the life span is short even if there was a chance she made it through. CPR if had to be performed would have meant cracking her ribcage. I said DNR to that and if I went home with that DNR  - I wouldn't have made it back to be with her in time. I didn't want her dying alone with strangers in the hospital. 

I am in shock. Deep grief. Such an empty house. Waking up and she isn't here; going to bed, she isn't here. Walks anywhere are lonely and I don't feel like hiking for the first time in my life. 

I love you my friend. There will never be another Rio. One of a kind.