Mr.Bad Bad Leroy Brown

2001 - November 7, 2016

On May 14, 2015, a foster home was needed for a dog coming into our care at Finding Them Homes. He truly sounded like an ideal dog that I know any foster home and adopter would be fighting over, wanting to take him. The post read:

FOSTER NEEDED: Sasha will be coming down Tuesday. He is guessed to be about 8 and needs vet care. No testicles ... suspected heart disease... liquids in his chest... trouble breathing. He has food aggression for obvious reasons so feed him in a crate! Who can help?

Well we all fought over him. No I'm kidding, I couldn't handle waiting for someone to step up, so I immediately commented that we would take him. The next day, we picked a name for him, he was an old man and needed an old man name. Leroy, yes, Leroy would do just fine for this old man. Then on May 17, I finally laid eyes on you. You were so small, so tiny, and so scared. I never liked small dogs, but that face, that floof you had on top of your head, and those eyes, I knew that I would never be able to let you go. I wasn't sure how I would tell Bill, get him to agree, but you were mine, and would be always. When we got home on May 18, Bill couldn't get over how adorable you were. And could recognize that you needed help getting to learn how to live a good life, how to get used to living inside, to never have to sleep with one eye open again, to always be warm, have a soft bed and a full belly. June 16 we made it official, and you were a Jenkins. We later found out that you were much older than originally thought, you're between 13 and 17 today. You've been a blast, you have made us laugh so many times with your silly antics, your puppy playfulness, your dancing for food and impatient howling as I would get meals ready and you were such an amazing Uncle to the foster pups we had and would bring other fosters out of their shell, getting them to play. Then, you started showing signs that something wasn't quite right, and that you had the dog form of dementia. After doing much research and seeing how bad this awful disease could be, I promised you, like I did that very first moment I laid eyes on you, to always protect you, and never let you get to that point where you were constantly confused, and not knowing what was going on and getting lost in the house. Then, we started seeing these things beginning to happen. Every now and then, a glimpse of the real you would show up, but they were not very often anymore, and you stopped recognizing me, started waiting for me to come home when I was right next to you, and would get lost in the house. So today, we have set you free, free to be that eternal puppy that is in your heart, and let your mind be restored. The only thing that I am sorry about is that you didn't come to us sooner, but as they say, everything happens for a reason, and I'm so honoured to have called you mine for the time that we shed together physically, but you will always be mine, and I yours. I know that what we will miss are the things that drove us nuts, your prancing around the house, feet constantly moving, your excited love bites on my bum when I would get home, and and lately, your forgetting to pee when going outside because of the dementia, you see you thought you did, and then when eating breakfast, well, I would have to clean up a little puddle between your feet. It may not have been a long time, but I promise you no one could have ever loved you anymore. 18 months, or 77 weeks, or 539 days you have been physically with us, but for eternity, I will carry you with me, every single step of the way. No matter how long our time was together, it doesn't sound long enough for the amount of love that I have for you.

By and by, I'll catch up with you at the bridge. Say hello to the girls for me, you're going to love Lodi's playfulness when you meet her, oh, and she'll show you that you are never really without me, and that I am never really without you. See you down the road my boy, my Leroy Brown. ❤️????❤️