2020 is quite a year huh? Well, for us she just struck again. Last weekend I flew to Park City to say goodbye to Lopa. My dog that I have had for most of my adult life.
Back in the fall of 2007, a few years after graduating college I had a steady job at the beginning of a career, I had just purchased a house in town Durango, and was living mostly alone. (I had a few roomates here and there) As with most life decisions, I was drinking with a friend when she suggested we head out to the Humane Society and have a look at some of the dogs there. You know, just to see. I had been thinking of getting a puppy for some time. I grew up with a dog and always wanted one of my own to raise.
There were not many puppies in the rescue so we were already on our way out. I had not really even considered looking in the “Already house trained” section. Though, as a final gesture we walked down the last row of cages. Walking down the row, a sleeping white husky grabbed my attention. As I started looking closer she woke up and came to say hi as if she was greeting an old friend. Not overly exited, but just happy to see me again. She was about a year old, all white Husky Shepherd mix. At least according to their best guess. 45 minutes and a few signatures later, “BC” as she was called then was in the car with me headed to her new home.
Thinking of a name is hard, especially for the more technically creative like myself. I spent days researching names, meanings, random words, anything that I though could work as a great name of this pure white princess of a dog. I stumbled upon a translator, and was just typing words in in different languages when it spit out Löpa. A Swedish word meaning “run”. Perfect.
Given that she was already a year old, I immediately started training and running with her. I started slow and short, but I never found her limit. She would happily run with me wherever and however far I would go. Within months, she had graduated to going on every run I went on. Her first time i even saw her tired was after 17 miles at 9k ft in the snow. We got in the gar and she went right to sleep. She immediately wanted more as soon as we got home.
From then on she was my constant partner in all things outdoors. 20+ mile runs, 7+ day backpacking trips, and multiple 14k ft peaks. We even tried a few mountain biking trips, but the speed was a bit much for her. She was the queen of the camp site. No matter where we were, she would find her spot where she should sit above ans see the whole camp. Every hour or so would get up and do a walk of the perimeter, and a individual checkup on all humans and other dogs, then head back to her throne and watch.
Sadly after 10 years, she developed some sort of neurological issue where she would lose blood pressure and pass out randomly at the start of a run if we started too fast. She started having to stay home on some of the more aggressive runs. but she still lived a happy mountain dog life.
When Shannon and I started our sailing adventure, we knew that she would not enjoy the new life. Small space, no yard, constantly moving, and the heat. She just would not have been happy with us. We decided to leave her with my Dad in Park City. This way should could still go on shorter outdoor run with him, and still have her own back yard and live her last few years comfortably. Given her deteriorating neurological issues we assumed she only had about 18 months left. Of course she blew that out of the water and hung in there for 3 more years.
Finally, a few weeks ago I got the call. She was no longer eating, she could not make it up/down the stairs anymore, and was getting lost in the house. She had her moments, but not too many anymore. So last sunday I flew up to Park City to be with my dad and say goodbye to Lopa. We did everything we could to keep her happy and comfortable for as long as we could, but in the end this was the right thing.
Thank you Lopa, you will be missed.
Aww Lopa. Such a good dog!
Never easy to say goodbye to a best friend. The loss of that unconditional love leaves a big hole in our hearts.