Bye bye Sheffield

Sadly, we lost Sheffield yesterday.  He passed away quickly and suddenly and the house just doesn't feel the same without his funny face or his unconditional love.

We had so many wonderful memories with him but one of the things that makes this even more difficult is the fact that Riley isn't old enough to even remember Sheffield.  In lieu of Riley's memories, I'd like to take the opportunity to share some of the Sheffield/Riley interactions that left an impression.

Even before he was born, Sheffield was a fan of Riley.  He would check out my belly and let Riley know that he already had a brother waiting to meet him.  On Riley's first day home, we were afraid that the dogs would think he was a chew toy but they both came over, sniffed him to say hi but then were just so excited to see Chris that they didn't even realize that we had a new family member.

It wasn't until a few days later that Sheffield really understood what was happening.  I remember him looking at Riley and I saw him think "wait a minute, what's he still doing here?"  You could tell it was all starting to come together for him that this kid wasn't just a visitor.

But after a while, Sheffield learned how to share his Daddy time with Riley and they got along well.  Sheffield loved meal time because he would sit right in the 'drop zone' and help clean up.  Riley even made a game out of sharing his food.

Recently, Sheffield made it a habit of visiting during bath time.  Riley would hold up a cup and spill water.  Sheffield would try to catch the water in mid air and Riley would giggle and squeal, having so much fun watching Sheff!  I thought I would have the chance to get a video of this but I guess I'll just have to remember it.

Sheffield was such a good dog.  He was goofy and crazy and a handful, but he was sweet and funny and loving.  He will truly be missed but we know that he is in doggie heaven having a blast with all his new friends.