15 years, 1 month and 18 days. A wonderfully long life, well lived, but still not enough. There are so many stories I want to tell about Arthur it would fill up a book, but since this is FB, I'll try to hit the highlights.
We adopted Arthur from Irvine Animal Care in July, 2001. He was our "once in a lifetime" dog. Named after King Arthur, he more than earned the title (although he had some of Dudley Moore's Arthur in him too). Arthur was loyal, loving, trusting, sweet, good, strong, determined and didn't let anything get him down for long. He never met a treat he didn't love! He earned his Canine Good Citizen certification. His favorite games were soccer and tug-of-war with his greyhound sisters, and he always let the greyhounds win (and we let him think he was tall and thin like his sisters).
Arthur and his Dad loved to rough house, and Arthur would smile on command for his daddy. Arthur "talked" to me all the time. He would look at me intently and move his mouth without making a sound, and I just know he was trying to talk. But he didn't need to as his eyes told me everything I needed to know.
We loved his "speckled" body, black eye patch, polka dot ear, black eyelashes on one eye and white eyelashes on the other, and toenails that were black, white, or half and half.
The last 2 years were rough after Arthur suffered a back injury during surgery, but he was a trooper! He went through rehab including water treadmill, laser and acupuncture treatments, and too many supplements to remember. Thanks to the care of 2 awesome veterinarians, we made it through 2 more years. We thought we'd lose him a few times during the last few months, but his eyes always told me that he wasn't ready, until the last day... We all ask for a sign so we know it's time, and my sweet boy told me it was time to go.
We miss him so much and always will, but know how lucky we were that he was our boy, and we had so much time together. Until we meet again my sweet boy...