When the Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and I got married we had already decided that we didn’t want to have children, we wanted a dog. At the time, we were in an apartment so that was out of the question, but in the fall of 1994 we rented a house so that we could make that a reality.
We knew we wanted a “bigger” dog and did a ton of research on the various breeds; these were the days before the interwebs so we did it the old fashioned way – We read books, talked to owners, and went to dog shows. After much discussion of our requirements – A bigger breed (over 40 pounds), easy going, good with kids (we didn’t have them, but our friends would), easy to train (HA!), and relatively low maintenance, we decided on Golden Retrievers, and in late January 1995 we brought home an 8 week old bundle of energy. Beginning a tradition of naming our dogs after things related to Disney, we called him “Eli” (which is Walt Disney’s middle name).
Eli wasn’t much for obedience (he listened to us when he wanted to), retrieving (he had a tendency to go over to the object thrown and just look at it), or other dogs (dog parks were where there were people who might want to pet him), but he was one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever known. I was still coming to grips with my IBD when we got Eli, and he would sit with me when I wasn’t feeling well, he saw the L&T and I through many highs and lows. In the early years he traveled with us frequently, from trips to California to Coupeville, bringing love wherever he went.
Unfortunately, for all the love and joy they bring, pets are only with us for a short time and on Friday our short time with Eli came to an end. Eli wasn’t always a good dog, but he was always a great dog, and he will be missed… Make It So’s Disney Magic “Eli” – 05 Dec 1994 to 05 Jan 2009. Rest well old friend…
