Final Farwell

 Yesterday we buried our dear sweet Andy.

We had a little funeral for him and marked his grave with some flowers and a little St. Francis statue (he's the patron saint of animals).

William and the kids dug a hole in the front yard. We had talked about burying him out on the property where he used to chase rabbits in his younger days but that seemed so far away and he was always such a social dog.

 So we chose the place where Andy liked to bury his bones.

 The kids were very happy to be able to help their Daddy.

Obi wanted to see Andy one last time.

He wanted to say good bye to Andy.

He still looked like he was just sleeping.

Then we all talked about things we remembered about Andy. 

How he loved the kids and would nose them when they cried. 

How he used to take up half the bed when he slept with us when William and I first got married.

How he loved to run around and welcome us home whenever we came home from anywhere, like we'd been gone forever.

 Everyone put a scoop of dirt in.

 And then it was time to get to work.

William and the kids filled in the hole.

We buried him in his favorite green doggie bed and put a doggie bone in with him.

 He's in a lovely spot close to the house where he can keep an eye on us and we can visit him any time.

 My mom and I spent the last few days looking for pictures of Andy and collecting them in one place. He was with us for 16 years! That's a long time. He watched us grow up and he's loved on our babies.

Looking back on fond memories my mom found these two old blog posts about Andy.

Here is the original blog post about him sleeping in Rosie's car seat.
http://bonitadc.blogspot.com/2010/03/separation-anxiety.html

And here's a really great one with a video of Andy chasing rabbits right after he moved to Tennessee from Southern California. He adapted so well and loved the farm so much.
http://bonitadc.blogspot.com/2009/12/city-dog.html