Over Memorial Day weekend, I lost the greatest adventure buddy and my best friend of sixteen years. Although it was her time, losing Sydney has left a huge hole in my heart and void in my life. To say she lived a great life is an understatement, Sydney had a fabulous life and I am grateful that fate brought us together. I am grateful that we had so many wonderful years together, packed full of adventures, laughter, silly games, snuggles, and those still moments when we would gaze into each other’s eyes. This is the first of several posts that aim to capture the story of Syd’s life, preserve her memory, and help me to heal from her loss.
My dear sweet Sydney, you are my heart, mind, and soul. The greatest companion and soulmate a girl could ask for; we always seemed to know what one another was thinking or feeling. Not wanting others to miss out on your marvelous antics, I created a voice for you and frequently spoke on your behalf so everyone else in the room would also know what you were thinking. As a young pup, I called you Sydie Little, because you were so small. Soon other nick-names came into play; Sydie Bitty, Siddy Lou, Sydie Bug, Buggy Boo, Buggins, Sydie Boogie, and of course your whole name, Sydney Louise, when you were being a bit naughty. Most recently, in your older years, you were my little old lady and I often referred to you as Bubby Boo or Lovins.
Baby Syd
We met just over 16 years ago in Laramie, WY. Pat worked with a lady at his work-study job whose dog had puppies on November 8, 2006. Knowing how much I love dogs, Pat decided to get me a puppy for my Christmas present. At the beginning of December, I drove from Fruita to Laramie to help Pat move to Colorado after he finished his last semester at University of Wyoming. While I was there, he told me he had a surprise for me and we drove over to his coworker’s house. As we pulled up to this poorly lit mobile home, I thought to myself, “What are we doing here”. We walked into the front entry and there were several puppies, Pat told me I could pick one to keep. I stood there for a few minutes looking at all the pups; this little puppy stumbled up to me, I picked her up, she nuzzled into my arms and let out a deep sigh. I never put this little girl down, she was the one! As I was holding her, the name Sydney Louise popped into my head. This black furry ball fit snugly in both my hands side by side, and when she stood on all fours, Sydney was merely six inches tall. The mother was a Chow mix of some sort, possibly collie and the dad was a Lab mix. Sydney was only four weeks old when we took her from her litter, we ended up bottle feeding her for a few weeks in addition to puppy chow.
During the car ride back to Fruita, I set Syd inside a cardboard box. After ten minutes of whining I stuck my hand inside the box to comfort her, she pushed her little head up against my hand to pull herself out of the box. Throughout the trip Sydney was in my lap, paws on the door trying to get a view out the window or she was curled up in the passenger seat. I believe it was this ride that sparked her love for car rides.
When we arrived in Fruita, Sydney met my parent’s dog Chloe, a brindle colored Lab-Boxer mix; the two quickly became best friends. Chloe taught Sydney many things, most importantly the boundaries of my Parent’s property. Chloe, only a year and a half, looked after Sydney and made sure to keep her away from the road. Earlier in the fall before Sydney was born, Chole had an incident; she had followed my mom out into the road when she went to get the mail and was hit by a car. Fortunately, Chloe had minimal injuries, a sore shoulder and a torn pad on her front paw. This one incident was enough to teach Chloe that the road was no place for a doggie, unless leashed and with a human, she later passed this wisdom onto other pups. While I was prepping to go to Graduate School, I lived in Fruita with my parents to save money. It was actually a pretty good arrangement because my sister was still at home, my dad had retired, and my grandparents also lived on the property. There was almost always someone home to look after Sydney and Chloe, which allowed them plenty of time to roam free on the vast five acres of land. While I was at work, my dad often took Chloe and Sydney on car rides to get an ice cream cone and he made sure they had a comfortable place on the couch for their afternoon naps.
Once Sydney was old enough to have all her shots, we started taking her on local hikes; most frequently we went out to explore the Fruita trails. Pat took the dogs out for a trail run in Devil’s Canyon one evening after work, as he ran he would look over his should to see if Sydney was still following. After a mile or so, Pat realized Sydney was no longer in sight. Pat retraced his steps, following other trail sections to see if she went in another direction. After thirty minutes of searching, Pat decided he would go back to the car and call me to help look for her. When he arrived back at the car, Sydney was sitting there waiting, and boy did she give him an earful for losing her. Such a smart pup, when Sydney realized she had lost Pat, she knew she needed to go back to the car. Despite getting lost in Devil’s Canyon, this became Sydney’s favorite place to visit. Each time we would drive to Devil’s, Sydney would start singing and howling once we crossed the Colorado River on Highway 340, her singing would get louder the closer we got to the trailhead. After seeing how excited she got when we would go to these trails, we soon nicknamed the area Syd’s Canyon because it was her special place.
Sydney and Chloe became accustomed to weekly hikes, learning about trails all over Mesa County from Devil’s Canyon to Mt. Garfield and many hikes on the Grand Mesa. They snuggled up next to us in the tent on camping trips, chased marmots, swam in several lakes and streams, and loved to play in the snow. There were several trips to Blue Mesa and boat rides, Sydney and Chloe would patiently wait for the times we would pull into a little cove so they could swim. When Pat and I would ski or tube, the dogs would sit at the back of the boat watching us, waiting for us to come back into the boat. In April of 2008, Pat and I decided to go on a last minute camping trip in Moab; we took Sydney along and ended up camping at Dewy Bridge. Sydney got to see the bridge while still intact, the following week, some kid was irresponsibly playing with matches and burned the bridge down. When I think back on this trip and many other fond memories, I realize Sydney got to see and do a lot of things.
While roaming my Parent’s property Sydney and Chloe enjoyed four-wheeler rides and their routine morning walk out to the barn to check on the horses. My mom had a horse who was part Clydesdale, by the name of Raleigh, he towered over everyone at 17 hands tall. Sydney used to greet Raleigh every morning and they would walk the fence line together. I have a photo of the two walking, Sydney looking up to Raleigh as though they were deep in conversation. During the spring and summer months, Chloe and Sydney could often be found frolicking in the ditch. One summer morning, we woke up to find that the yard had flooded while my parents were irrigating the pasture, turning the yard into a small lake. Although it was only a few inches deep, Sydney approached the water with caution, dipping her paws in one at a time. Chloe on the other hand came barreling through the water, kicking her feet up, and rolling in it. It wasn’t long before Sydney joined Chloe in the fun, they ran back and forth, splashing through the water for an hour before they decided it was time to dry off.
Nellie joined our family in July of 2008, just a few weeks before Pat and I got married. Knowing that we would be moving to Salt Lake City after our wedding so I could start Graduate School, we decided to get another dog so Sydney wouldn’t be lonely. Pat was flying out of Montrose and after I dropped him off at the airport, I stopped into the Montrose Animal Shelter. They had a few puppies available, and I decided that Nellie would be a good fit. Nellie, a Border Collie Husky mix, was about four months when we adopted her. When I brought Nellie home, she was very curious to meet Sydney and Chloe, but she was overly cautious of males. Nellie was abused as a small pup and she had a hard time trusting men; it took her a few days before she warmed up to my dad and Pat. Chloe was excited to meet Nellie and ready to play, Sydney on the other hand was just not sure. Initially Sydney was friendly, but let Nellie know there were rules to follow, she also told Nellie she best not think she is going to get all the attention. Nellie quickly grew on Sydney and they became good friends, playing and snuggling.
Our wedding day came, August 9, 2008; Sydney and Chloe were our ring bearers and the stars of the show. Nellie had only been with us a few weeks so she didn’t get to participate or even attend. Nellie liked to chew things and she didn’t yet know about cars and keeping out of the way; in her best interest, Nellie stayed in the garage for the big event. The few days following the wedding, we started packing up for Salt Lake City, as we made numerous trips from the back door to the car, Sydney and Chloe lay in the grass next to one another, watching us. They looked so sad, I am assuming they thought we were abandoning them. We took one load to SLC and flew out to our honeymoon, my parents drove the trailer to meet us in Salt Lake after we returned from our Tahoe trip, then we made our way back to Fruita to get the dogs. As we loaded up for the official move, Sydney and Nellie were in the car, but Chloe had to stay behind at her home. Sydney and Chloe were heartbroken to leave each other, they were best buddies and they didn’t quite understand why they couldn’t stay together. Once we got to SLC, things were new and exciting; we did lots of exploring and found a few parks that we could walk to each day. After a few weeks, while Pat and I were away for most of the day, Sydney began to miss her friend and the freedom to roam on the farm. My parents would send pictures of Chloe laying in the yard, waiting for Syd to return. The dogs were reunited over Labor Day when we went home for the weekend, and with many short trips back and forth, Sydney and Chloe soon learned that they got to see each often.
Salt Lake City
While living in Salt Lake City, we walked the dogs all over the Avenues, Sydney got to learn the streets and location of our apartment very quickly. One night, Pat and I went to a concert and asked our neighbor to check in on the dogs and take them for a walk. Our neighbor took the dogs to a park about a mile away from our apartment; while we were at the concert he text us a photo of Sydney sitting on the roof of his jeep. This was very uncharacteristic of Sydney, but later we learned that she was actually trying to see her route back home. Soon after Matt took the picture, Sydney was gone; he drove all over looking for her, panicked that he lost our dog. He finally drove back to our apartment and found Sydney sitting on the stoop waiting for us to return. This little lady ran a mile home, crossing two busy intersections, and not a hair on her body was harmed. Another time while living in Salt Lake, we were walking on the Rail Trail near Park City. The dogs saw some deer and took off after them. There was a fence in between the trail and the interstate; Sydney chased the deer, bounced off the fence, then found an opening in the fence and continued on. I was sick to my stomach, I thought for sure she was a goner. Nellie, not quite a year old, followed her sister and when she got into the middle of the freeway, realized she made a mistake. Pat went after the dogs, retrieving Nellie first. Sydney had made it across four lanes of interstate traffic and a few hundred yards up a hill side, still chasing after the deer. How Sydney made it across with all the traffic still amazes me. I was of course angry about this little stunt, the two of them were sentenced to an hour of lock up in the spare bedroom and a long evening of scolding; I remember telling Sydney she was so naughty and telling her how heartbroken I would have been if she would have been hit. Sydney was not quite two when this incident occurred; at the time, I worried that she might be the type of dog I always had to worry about running into the street and getting hit by a car. There was never another time when Sydney ran into the road, and not once did she ever wander off while left outside unattended.
Our Salt Lake apartment was the basement of an old house that had been renovated into four apartment units. The house had a small back yard that was buffered on one side by a fence and the other side by an elevated parking lot. There was a small piece of the yard that sat between the parking lot and the fence, we asked our landlord if we could build a dog run to allow Sydney and Nellie to stay outside while we were gone. We bought all the materials built a simple dog run then we got a baby pool to keep in the corner so they could drink or cool off. At first they stayed in the pen, but after a few weeks they learned how to get out. We thought if we secured the gate and added an obstruction at the top of the gate they would be deterred. About a month later, I came home from classes in the middle of the day and neither Sydney nor Nellie were in the dog run. I got out of my vehicle and started walking towards our door, calling for them. They rounded the corner from the front yard; our neighbor said she came home and they were just hanging out in the yard. We tried reinforcing the pen again and did some training with them to try to teach them to stay, but alas they continued to escape. The dogs never ventured off, they stayed in the yard and neighbors would often comment on how good they were to never wander or bark. The dog run came down, and we went back to keeping them inside; I would come home over lunch or in-between classes to let them out each day. Years later while we were living in our Grand Junction home, we would leave the dogs in the fenced back yard. They had a doggie door to get into the garage when they didn’t want to be outside. There were a few times that we left for the day and didn’t realize that the garage door didn’t go down, we would come home to an open garage and Sydney and Nellie lounging in the yard. Our neighbors sang praise of how well behaved they were, the dogs never left the yard and would often wonder back and forth between the back and front yard. This is a telltale sign of trust and loyalty, or maybe the dogs knew they were living their best life.
There were several great parks in Salt Lake City, our favorite was City Creek, and we walked there most days. During our visits to the park we met many dog friends; oddly we never learned the people’s names, but knew all the dogs by name. One dog friend by the name of Panda had an owner who brought cooked chicken to the park, Sydney and Nellie were typically first in line for their savory treat. When we first moved to the city, we discovered Liberty Park, it was a nice park with a walking path, plenty of shade, and a large pond. During one evening visit, we let the dogs off leash to get in and swim. Typically Syd is not a big swimmer, she likes to get in and splash around, but she soon gets her fill and is ready to dry off. Something got into her that day, she saw a goose and paddled all over the lake chasing the goose. We yelled and yelled, but she kept swimming and antagonizing the goose for twenty minutes. Needless to say, we didn’t venture back to Liberty Park. Most Sundays were spent walking at the University of Utah campus, this might have been one of their favorite spots. In the summers, there was a fountain that provided a perfect spot to cool off, the winters offered plenty of snow to play, and there were lots of squirrels and rabbits to chase. There was another park in the Avenues that was full of walnut trees, the dogs would run from tree to tree chasing squirrels.
Living so close to downtown Salt Lake, we had an occasional urban day, wandering through the Gateway, attending special events, or grabbing dinner. These days were less preferred to hikes and playing at the park, but Sydney and Nellie were happy to tag along and greet many people on the street. The dogs attended several downtown events with live music, lots of people, and many sights, smells, and sounds. These outings helped Sydney and Nellie to develop excellent manners with many opportunities for socialization with other dogs and people. They never lunged or snapped, but on occasion there was a suspicious character and the dogs would let us know they did not approve by putting their hackles up. I liked to sit outside in the front yard and study, the dogs would lounge in the grass. There were a few times that a creeper would walk by and engage in conversation with me or even try to come into our yard; if the dogs were not trusting of someone they would voice their disapproval “You stay away from our Mom.” Bob Murry once said “I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person.” Dogs sense things and they know when something just doesn’t feel right.
There were numerous hikes along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, Sydney had her first rattlesnake encounter on one of our hikes. We were headed back towards the car when the dogs started nosing around some scrub oak, we heard this odd noise and before I had a chance to yell for the dogs Sydney jumped four feet into the air. Thankfully no one was hurt; this little scare was enough to teach them to stay away from rattlesnakes, we never had another incident. One summer we headed to the Unita Mountains for a weekend backpacking trip. We packed into the Amethyst Basin and set up camp in this beautiful meadow with a creek running through the middle. The dogs were in heaven, bounding in and out of the water, trying to catch little minnows, they entertained themselves for several hours. As evening approached we dried them off and did our best to keep them out of the water so they wouldn’t get the tent wet. Sydney, part Chow, had a fluffy tail that she held high in a perfect question mark. Her tail was a distinguishable characteristic, one of my favorites. The next day we were packing out and I we noticed Syd’s tail was hanging between her legs, I thought perhaps she somehow broke her cute little tail. In just a few days, Sydney was back to normal. Apparently dogs can get limber tail syndrome, causing the tail to become flaccid after playing in the water for long durations.
During our second year in Salt Lake we made a few trips back to Colorado to climb a few fourteeners. Sydney, Nellie, and Chloe all bagged their first peak in June of 2009 with a snowy climb up Handie’s Peak. We met our friend Eric in Fruita and then drove to Lake City to camp, making the climb the next day. As we neared the trailhead we found ourselves in an early morning traffic jam with a herd of sheep, the dogs were barking and dancing around in the car. Sydney poked her whole body out the window, balancing on one foot inside the car, singing and barking; “Hey you sheep, get out of the way, we are going hiking”. The following month we made another trip back to Colorado, this time to summit four peaks in one day. Sydney and Nellie checked off their fifth peak after climbing Cameron, Lincoln, Democrat, and Bross in July of 2009. They discovered the snow fields on this trek, first they would lay on their bellies to cool down, then they realized they could they could skip sections of the trail by sliding down the snow fields to the next switch back in the trail. Snacks were another favorite part of the hike, stopping for treats and eating tuna for lunch. Typically after finishing a day on a fourteener, we would stop for a bite, finding a local place with a patio. The dogs would often indulge on a hamburger patty or a burrito bowl with only meat and rice, after gobbling everything down Syd would look at us with a big smile, asking about the next adventure. Sydney and Nellie went on to summit a total of twelve fourteeners in their lifetime.
In December of 2010, I finished my Masters, earning a degree in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism from the University of Utah. In March of 2011 I was offered a job in Palisade and we were headed back to Colorado. Although there were lots of walks and hikes in Salt Lake, Sydney was happy to head back home where the next chapter would begin.
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