Daily Dose of Doom

Found pictures on our external hard-drive. So I've spent the last 20 minutes blubbering gently into my keyboard with a wobbly lip.









This was Hades (yeah i know, what's in a name right? I blame my brother. I got to choose the family dog, he got to choose the name)
He was the destroyer of snowmen, hunter of anything that moved and tracker of anything he liked. Tail up high and head down, looking very much like a furry radio-car...







He was to be 13 years old this year. But his body decided that enough was enough (he was after all a BIG dog.. 55 kg's in his prime) and my parents had to take him to the vet when his stomach gave out and the pain got to much. That was about 2 months ago.

"Ful-hund" was the pet name. Means dog-ugly.. But since it was always said with love and a good ear-tugg he knew I didn't mean it. . Me and my parents had shared custody of him (since I was working fulltime out of different offices most of the time) and it was a good setup.





When Love joined the family he somehow managed to take the nr 1 place in "ful-hundens esteem". Dont know how. Hades always tried to bully other bf's out of the picture - and most often succeded.. big dog, big teeth, wins hands down every time.

With Love it was puppy-dog eyes and sneaking up into the coutch everytime I left a space. Once even sneaking up on the bed. I actually woke up from beeing pushed onto the ledge of the bed, turning around and looking over Loves shoulder (I'm usually the sea-star of the family, taking up 80% of the bed) I saw this nose sticking up and then the sound of big dog sliding down on the floor and scuddling out into the hallway knowing he was not suppose to be there.

Never when I was around though.

To smart for that. I can't say he was a nice dog. He was not friendly.

Tailwagging was strictly for family and friends (few of them). The rest got the cold shoulder or the sneaky eye (he was quarter boarder-collie. their not known for their love of strangers, and his mother was, to be very frank - a bitch. she'd put her teeth into anyone she could. )



anyway. Not a very nice dog, but a very smart one. We had our own language. "go around" was a command to go around who ever we were meeting in a cirkle (specially if they were leading another dog) meaning we never had to have the alpha-male bullshit fights. "Ta dom djävlarna" was "take the bastards".. meaning he was allowed to chase what ever he was marking out (we lived in the woods ... truly.. I'm a bush baby at heart) Only time that went awry was when he found one of the moose and figured it would be a nice suprise, sheperding the damned thing back to me. .. Not his brightest moment..
He was barely ever on a liece. He was also housetrained within 3 days after he got in to the house when he was a puppy. Now that is a good dog.. (I truly hate whiping pee and poo of the floor)



His guard dog duties were taken very seriously. Very nice to have when we would go out camping with Love. Just the 3 of us and a small Golf and a HUGE tent (always needed when you've got a dog.. german shepards tend to have a .. bouque when getting damp. Lets leave it at that).



He was a total teather monkey (again a straight translation from swedish.. ) he gave a good show.. One of the more rememberable moments was going to Tensta (a suburb to Stockholm, know to be a bit rough). Comming up from the subway to visit my friend a couple of guys saw me and started calling names and propositions, while the dog was still hidden behind bushes doing his business of marking the place as his own. As any boy does yes?

anyway. I had come around on the walk path and I was asking what exactly they thought they were doing when H came around, standing to perfect attention on my left side. Head down and a very soft very low growl comming out of him while the shackles came up on high end. I've never seen boys run so fast in their life..

And that was my dog. more of a clint eastwood cool bad-ass then the screaming raging sort.

And he always waited for his que.



Anyway. Next time I go home to see the parents there will be no howling and grumbling and moaning about what we've missed (usually done on the floor with a wet nose under your chin and a wagging butt) No more belly rubbs or jaw clamping (his way of showing love) and no dog talking (groans and whines, it always sounded like he was trying to keep a very bad tune)..


So. that was Hades.
Any dog after that will probably be a disapointment (I dread the day I get landed with a dumb one.. I'll go crazy probably, but no doubt love them just the same)
He set the bar pretty damned high.

Okej. its now 3 am. Gonna catch some zzz's and get back to life without a dog.
It sucks.