Where do i start?
Gunner was actually my brother's dog. We got him only about 3years ago. A lady that my mom works with said she was giving away a lab mix puppy. We didn't know what he was mixed with, however. My dad and brother went to see him and decide if that was the kind of dog my brother wanted. (my mom didn't go on this little trip. thats a good thing though otherwise we never would have gotten him.) When my mom came home from work and saw how big he was, we all thought she was gonna lose her mind. Mind you, we only had 2 mini dachshunds before this. My mom hated him, but he loved everybody like they were his bestfriend. He was very playfull and out going. And yes, once he learned that we let the little dogs sit on our laps, he tried it to. I never liked big dogs. I was attacked by one when I was little and hadn't liked them since. Gunner showed me how bigs dogs come with big hearts. Even though he wasn't my dog I still loved him like he was my baby. About 2 years ago, my brother and I had a huge scare. We let Gunner out in our back yard to play and run and sometimes he's out there for hours on end. On night as we were bringing him back inside, his legs were very wobbly and he was drooling heavily. We were so scared he caught rabies or something. Luckily we caught our local vet as she was about to leave her office. She took amazing care of him and even let us stay over night to make sure he was ok. We found out that he had been poisoned, most likely with corn that farmers use to keep squirels out of thier crops. But, Gunner was fine and he was back to his crazy self in no time. Last October we added another dauchshund to the herd. This time a female. She is the smallest of all of our dogs, but she took to Gunner right away. She loved playing with him and chasing (well trying to chase) him around the yard. It was really the cutest thing I have ever seen 2 completely different dogs do. Gunner took her under his wing (or paw in this case) and showed her the ropes. She even learned how to sit by watching him interact with Chris,my brother. Last night however, we weren't so luck. We let the big guy out in the yard as usual. He was out there for a couple hours while i cooked for Chris and his girlfriend and while we ate. As Chris and his girlfriend were leaving, she asked me if I could let Gunner in soon. I asked her to do it because I didnt feel like getting up. When she called him, he didn't come running as usual. Not even a slow trot. Barely a slow walk. We took him to an emergency vet in a town about 15 minutes away from us. They sent us home thinking everything was ok but they were going to keep him overnight to watch him , but we could take him to our local vet in the morning. At about 1 in the morning, they called Chris to tell him that Gunner had past away. We all miss him like crazy and although its still kind of a new shock, none of us can really stop crying for more that a few hours at a time. We love him deeply and he will always be in our hearts. P.S. I know this doesn't exactly do him justice but it's what I could come up with still teary eyed