Today was by far one of the hardest days of my life. Even when you know your pet has lived a full and happy life, you are never ready. Never ready to say goodbye, never ready to make "The Decision", never ready to watch his best friend and sister grieve. Never ready to tell your kids their family pet has taken his last breath.
11 years ago it was fate how we got Rogan. Our cousin got a boxer and she told us there were still some left in the litter. I said there is no way in hell I'm getting a boxer. Ken said can we just go look? I said fine but the only way I'm getting one is if there is a "Brindle one with a Black Face"
Off we went to a Boxer breeder just outside Niagara falls. There was only one puppy left she said and he is the runt of the litter. Well lets take a look I said, we drove this far.
This is what we find, the cutest puppy on the planet and a miracle he was Brindle with a Black face.
It was fate, we took him home that night and all the way home tried to pick out names. We decided on Rogan after a three hour drive home.
Rogan adapted nicely to our family, we took him every where we went. He went to hotels with us during hockey tournaments. We boxed on the beds but don't tell the hotel, I'm sure there weren't supposed to be pets on the beds.
Rogan soon got lots of nicknames, Roggie, Roug, Bubba and he loved hiking in the snow on the trails and running through the woods.
Soon we found a sexy little female boxer that our neighbour had and it wasn't long until we decided Rogan needed a sister, a playmate and best friend. One dog or two, they were no more work and so much fun to have two.
You could just hear him saying, please can I get a playmate to live with us. So, a hunting we went and found a beautiful fawn boxer who Rogan took to right away. Fate again, these two were meant to be together.
We named her "Lexi" and it wasn't long before I was calling her "Sexy Lexi" she is so beautiful. Rogan was smitten and never left her side, ever.
Their favourite thing to do was run and play together at the puppy park.
It wasn't long before we knew who was boss. Lexi took the dominate role and kept Rogan in place. She was heavier too and could throw her weight around!
These two were inseparable, buy two beds, they sleep on one together, always cuddling, always together.
Snuggle buddies to the end.
One of their favourite things to do was sit on the porch. Either wait for Mom or Dad to come home from work, or just sit and watch the world go around. They never left the porch without permission. These two dogs were trained well and so well behaved.
Our first selfie!
Over the past few years Rogan and Lexi became the famous Outlaw Strength Mascots. They would wait patiently inside the door for team members to come in and pet them and they knew when we were done training they got to come out to the gym to hang out with the Crew. Loved by so many, we are so blessed.
One of the last road trips was last month we took them up to Peterborough and hung out by the lake. They had a blast going for a car ride and hanging out by the water. We knew their time was limited as they are getting older so we tried to spend as much time as we could with them near the end.
Yesterday Rogan took a turn for the worse, we knew his time was near. I spent the night on the floor with him and cuddled as much as I could.
We were with him until the end, Rogan, the Brindle Boxer with the biggest heart who loved the kids and grandkids so much. Rogan who loved people and we called him the "Gentle Giant" as even when you handed him a treat he took it so gentle in his mouth. Rogan gave us nothing but unconditional love his entire life.
We gave him back the same love we got and more. Ken and I will miss our boy so much, Lexi is lost already but hopefully we can all find peace knowing he is not suffering in pain.
Holding hands until the end, he knew he was loved. Rogan crossed the rainbow bridge today, going into his forever sleep, pain free.
I want to give a huge thank you to those who have helped care for Roggie and Lexi while we were away. I know you all lost a piece of your heart today as you all loved these two as much as we did. So thank you to Victoria, Grant, Kelly, Mitchel, Carri, Matthew, Barry, Julie Kayle & Girls, Susan and Lily, and the list goes on of people who continually helped look after our pups. We appreciate that more than you will ever know.
Thank you to those who have reached out so far, the flowers Jamie are beautiful. I never knew it would be this hard.
Bless you all, Ken and I are very lucky.
#riproggie #boxerslove #heavyheart