Today I lost my best friend, my brother, and someone who will always be a part of our family. His name was Gooby and he was our family dog for the last 17 years. Gooby was a male silver minature schnauzer with a BIG heart and gave our family so much love. I must admit that this is the saddest day in my life, but I'm also very happy that he is now in a better place.

Somehow I think my dog knew that today would be the day and he waited for me. I dreaded the thought of my mother calling me up and letting me know Gooby was no longer with us. I know in my heart that he waited for me and wanted me to be the last person he would be with and I thank him for that.

Many of you who are close friends or even you who are just acquaintances may or may not have known him. For those of you who were fortunate enough to meet him, his name speaks for himself, "Gooby" and you know what a character he was. For those of you who don't know him, I wish you had met him, since he was such a special dog.

During the last year I knew my time with Gooby was getting short and he wouldn't be around, but I never expected today to be the day. It's hard for me to think about going through life without him. He was such a special dog to me and always brought cheer to my life. For being a dog that lived 17 years, he had so much spunk and life in him. It seems everytime I came to visit my mother he would always give me 150% of his energy, even as he grew old. I looked forward to visiting my mother knowing Gooby would be there. Just seeing his energy through his fiestiness, quirkiness, playfullness, and his love made me happy.

There are so many wonderful things that I will always remember about Gooby. His cute little playful bounce with his front legs, which he's alway's done since he was a puppy. His bark when he was begging for food, wanting to be let outside, or just wanting attention. The way his cute little ears always managed to stand straight, which also made him look like a rabbit, at least that's what tons of my friends said.

Gooby loved to take car trips no matter how long or short they were, even today when I had to drive him to the vet, I could tell how much he was enjoying being in the car with me. He also loved getting out of the house and going outdoors. I remember how he would always get really excited the minute you would take down his leash, since he knew he was going for a walk. Or if he knew you were going outside how he'd try to nudge his way out of the door. He actually managed to open the door by himself a few times and let himself out, since we didn't shut the door all the way. On both ocasions he wound up getting lost, but fortunately for us we always found him safe.

Gooby was a fearless dog, when he was younger he tried to pick a fight with a dog that was half wolf and half german shepard. This led to a trip to the vet, since he didn't win, but he did end up with a cool space collar and stiches. But there was one thing Gooby was scared of and that was the sound of a fart. To this day I believe that he is probably the only dog scared of farts. The reason he was scared of farts was due to my cousin Roger always farting in his face when he was a puppy.

There's also has another story with my cousin Roger and Gooby that I'll never forget and if you meet Roger you'll have to ask him to tell it to you. But long story short, Gooby caused Roger to get into a fight because of some high school punks questioning Roger's manliness while he was walking Gooby. After all was said and done I don't think those kids questioned Roger's manliness anymore.

Gooby had a crazy diet and loved all kinds of food, I think this was primarily due to my mom. He would virtually eat everything you gave him. He ate lettuce, pototes, cabbage, pretty much any vegetable. A bunch of fruits, but he didn't like tomatoes, I think that came from me. Of course he loved all kinds of meat. I can remember a time when my wife Melanie and I came back from eating ribs and we brought back a bag full of bones, some still had all the meat left on it. After about two bones he had so much meat in his stomach, combined with the hard work of gnawing the meat off the bone, that when he tried to go back into the house he could barely stand. I truly believe that eating the home cooked meals by my mom and the vegetables we gave him, plus all all our love, help extend his life to live these past 17 years.

Gooby was a very good and smart dog and you couldn't have asked for a better dog. As a puppy he never destroyed or chewed holes in anything. You could leave him for hours on end in the house and not have to worry about him going to the bathroom, he had an incredible ability to wait until he was let out before going to the bathroom. He was very smart and had a strange sense of knowing what he could and couldn't get away with. He knew just how far he could push and when to give up. Gooby also loved being the center of attention and would get jealous and growl everytime one of our family members showed affection to someone other than him. We use to tease him a lot with this, but deep down inside we knew that he just wanted our attention.

I know I may have missed some things about Gooby, but if you knew him his name speaks for itself. I think his name fit him perfectly, character and meaning. My mother named him and it's a combo of two words "Good" and "Boy", which ended up to be Gooby. My mom's house feels empty without him and he will always be missed.

Thank you Gooby for being a part of our family and our life, we will always love you...

Please click here to see our photo album of Gooby

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