Wow, 10 and a half years ago I researched and researched dog after dog... breed after breed... Paul and I were engaged to be married in a few months and I wanted a puppy dog! At that time, Paul didn't realize that he wanted a puppy dog! :) I knew we wanted to have a family so that meant I needed to find the best breed of dog for kids. I narrowed down my search to two breeds... which are now my very favorite breeds... a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel ( which we have Bailey who is 2 years old) and a Golden Retriever. After Paul realized he wanted a dog (insert smile here... :) ) he agreed to a Golden Retriever... Nope, he definately didn't want a small yappy dog he lovingly said. (insert another smile :) ha ) Well, after researching breeder after breeder (yes, I love to research... still do it with everything all the time!) we finally found a great one who was in Kansas. As soon as we returned from our honeymoon in June 1999 we went to LOOK at the puppies.... Needless to say it was Paul who decided we should go ahead and get one... It was easy to choose our dog as Tucker definately stood out above the rest...
What do I remember about Tuck...
*I remember reading a book about how to make your puppy into the best family dog for kids... It said to hold them in the air and stare at them until they quit wiggling and looked away from you... This meant they were "submissive" to you. I laugh now because I worried because Tuck never quit wiggling and he stared right at me! :) But, wow was he submissive... He was the greatest dog ever! Not a mean bone in his big body. And I remember Paul banging a spoon and pot while he ate and bothering him while he ate so that he would be used to kids disturbing his eating... I guess it all worked because Tucker never snapped at anyone... Even if you grabbed food right out of this mouth. Sweet gentle Tuck...
There are so many stories over the 10 years that I could write about... :) However, it's time to get the kids from school so I will end by saying that Tucker taught me so much about life... Sounds quirky, but it's true... He loved us no matter what... even when we didn't have alot of time to sit and pet him... He was always right there when we were ready... He followed us everywhere!!! Even at home... He followed us to tuck the kids in upstairs, he followed us downstairs to watch a movie, and he always waited for me to go to bed... If I was in the office on the computer until midnight then he waited for me to go into the bedroom to go to bed. He watched Paul mow the lawn... He traveled everywhere with us and would stand by the door waiting for us to take him when he saw the suitcase. He LOVED hanging out with us at the condo... There aren't many dogs that you can let out of your second floor condo to go to the bathroom and they will come right back into the condo without being on a lease or hardly even supervised. I will never forget him hanging out with our family at the cabin... Just two weeks ago he was running after the kids as Jake drove his dirtbike and Tay drove the Mule... Exactly one week before he went to Heaven he was hanging out with Paul and I (and Bay) at the cabin... And we are sooooo happy that we brought Bailey into our lives 2 years ago as those two years of living with Bailey brought Tuck so much joy! Tuck was like a puppy again... They were best buddies... Bay misses Tuck so much... I know Bailey misses jumping around and playing with sweet Tuck. I know Paul misses having Tuck hang out with him while he worked in the yard and grilled out. We all miss him following us everywhere... We miss him laying at the edge of the driveway while we talked in the middle circle... We miss him trying to sneak out into the yard to go potty, instead of in the mulch :)... We miss hooking Bailey's lease to Tuck at the cabin so Tucker could take her outside to go potty. We miss having to move the rugs everywhere he went so his feet wouldn't slip on the hardwood floors... We all miss him laying under the table while we ate... Or standing by the kids while they ate at the kitchen island... Tucker, Tucker, Tucker, I could on and on about sweet Tuck...
Even as he passed away he chose the best time for us... The one day when Paul was home after having been gone for a few days and then Paul having to leave for a few more days... He chose the day Paul was home... And to allow Paul and I to find him instead of the kids... Thank you Tuck!
We love you buddy! We know you are dancing around in Heaven without any hip problems!!! God bless you. And we praise God for not having you suffer... We are overjoyed that you didn't suffer, but that you were able to live happily and travel with us till the end...although you left us too soon... We know you lived 10 years and 4 months of pure happiness...
Rest in Peace Tuck! We love you!
Here are just a few of the many many pics we have of Tucker...
Tucker's 10 year birthday celebration... Tay and Jake planned and prepared it... 
Tucker with Jake as a newborn... Love at first site!
Jake relaxing with his buddies... Only Tuck knew we took this pic... :) 
Best best buddies... Tuck and Bay... Tucker had so much fun playing with Bailey over the last two years... They cuddled, they played tug of war, they rested, they took turns eating and drinking out of their bowls...
