Good-bye Barney

Little did we know when we went on this family adventure that this would be our last day with our faithful dog, Barney. That evening and the next day he was acting very tired and wouldn't eat or drink anything. We took him to the vet in the afternoon and waited as she ran several tests on him. She discovered that his spleen was swollen and there were malignant tumors on his spleen, heart, lungs and intestines. The spleen was leaking and we were told he would not survive. He passed away that evening. He was a part of our family for 10 years. The void in our home and our hearts will be felt for a long time.

Barney always let the kids lay on him, tickle him and do whatever they wanted. Jessi gave him a lot of love on his last day. We found comfort in knowing that he spent his last day doing what he loved the most, running freely and playing with his family.

Blake gave Barney his football one afternoon while he was resting. Barney was such a good sport that he kept it there and held it during his afternoon nap.

This is Barney smiling for the camera. We loved this face. He was the greatest escape artist I've ever known. We never found a fence that could keep him in! When we thought we had built the perfect fence, he figured out how to climb up our camper then jump over the top of our fence. We had to pay a few tickets for our roaming dog but he was worth it. We trained him as a pup to hunt birds with Pete. On one of his adventures he returned home wet and muddy. Posted on our front door was a ticket warning us that Barney had been caught harrassing ducks on the creek. We received calls from several schools over the years asking us to come retrieve him from the playground where he had found some kids with which to play. We can only imagine all the people and places Barney discovered on his adventures. But he always came home and looked through the back door, wagging his tail and barking until we would let him back inside. We love you boy and will miss you and your wonderful smile.