Smokey Dickie

02/2005 - 01/23/2019

Oh Smokey, your unconditional love enriched our lives and the memories we shared together will stay in our hearts forever. Missing your cuddles dearly. Thank you for nearly 14 years of love and devotion.

Love Always and Forever, Erica, Will, Reid, Logan, & Porter

When I look at these pictures, I can see that Smokey was not well on his final day (upper left) - sometimes looking back at the changes through pictures can be so helpful in seeing things you can’t see at the time.

Smokey’s bucket list for his final days included getting out his favourite toy (the cat charmer), which he used to drag everywhere around the house. He loved it so much you could hear the tick-tick-tick sound as he dragged it up and down the stairs [this ended up causing him to tear his ACL when he was younger, which is why we had to put it away]. Even though he wasn’t well, he still played with it (upper right) during his final days.

Smokey also loved his quiet time (aka no kids) when he would curl up on my lap (upper middle pic).

I realized I didn’t have many pictures of the two of us together, so I made sure to grab a few (lower left).

One of my favourite pictures of Smokey was when he was laying on my bed (lower middle). I used to take close ups of him when he was looking so content cap napping. He’d open his eyes and give me the look, then get up and find another spot ;)

I asked my husband to get a picture of me and the boys with Smokey the day we made the decision to euthanize, it was a painful and sad day filled with many tears. We told the boys Smokey’s body wasn’t working anymore and he was in pain. We explained that we were going to help him die peacefully. They kissed him goodbye and went on playing. They were young at the time (lower right). My oldest still speaks of him often. We encourage him to express his emotions as they come and read a lot of books about pet loss to help him process what had happened.

This collage was the first thing I did in memorializing Smokey and was made the day he died. I printed it and have it on my fridge. I look at it often. I miss him every day and am grateful for the time we shared together.

Honouring the Bond, the Life, and the Love shared with you my love