We adopted Bentley when he was 4 or 5 from a Humane Society in the area; not even really in the area we drove over an hour into the sticks to a small Humane Society where we met the most insane, huge Golden Retriever I have ever laid eyes on. When I say insane I mean it, he was nutso jumping all over the place, we took our other two dogs to meet him and he proceeded to chase them around humping them like a horny teenage boy the whole entire time. He was fun and spunky and did I mention pretty massive (99lbs at his biggest)?? He was not neutured so I knew chances were he would calm down a little bit by the time we brought him home so we said YES to that crazy dog.
I picked him up on Good Friday of 2009 during my day off. He was a totally different dog, I think he truly wanted to test his new family to be sure that he would not be abandoned again, he wanted someone who wanted him even if he was crazy. He was not crazy, just super sweet, super quiet (we heard him bark 2 times the whole 4 years we had him) and ready for someone who wouldn't give up on him.
We then brought children into the picture, mommy (that would be me) got more frustrated with our dogs by the day, it comes with sleep depervation and trying to keep your house clean with a crawling baby, but when you watch your first child learn to stand and walk because of a smelly, hairy dog you love that dog unconditionally because the joy on your child's face is worth it. He was totally worth it. Lydia loved B and would hug him, sit on him, tell him to "take it easy" if he was gulping water too fast, making sure he didn't make himself sick.
I didn't tell you that I had to convince my husband that we NEEDED Bentley but I did and then Bentley became Matt's shadow, he practically sat on his feet all day long and followed him from room to room. He rode in Matt's truck on quick errands to keep him company. They were buds in every sense of the word.
After Garrett was born, Bentley started to have off days where he would seem depressed, he wouldn't eat and he would drink and pee a ton. He had some issues with seizures after Lydia was born but it was chalked up to stress and they stopped a couple months later. We waited it out a bit but soon his bad days came more often then good days and in the last couple of weeks his belly was so bloated and his muscles were getting weaker. We knew it was time to take him in and see what was up. We didn't get good news.
Our happy dog wasn't happy anymore so we made the hard decision of giving him one last night in the house, Matt gave him cheeseburgers for lunch and I met him at the vet after work. It was one of the hardest things we have ever done as a couple to walk him in there knowing we would not be bringing him home again. I held his head in my hands and kissed his nose while they put him down to go to doggy heaven, he finally relaxed for the first time in a while and I knew we made the right decision that it was time for him to go.
I am so glad that we were the family that got to take him home for the last half of his life, I'm sad we didn't get more years with him, that Garrett won't get to pull himself up on the goldy locks of his or get to lay on him while watching a movie but he taught us a lot about letting people into your life even though others have let you down. That you can love unconditionally after heart ache and he loved us something fierce.
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