Bunsen. The Dog that healed our family

A sad start, but a soaring ending about love and healing.

For something to begin, something else has to end.

Our golden died of cancer.

The loss of a dog leaves a huge hole in your house. The place that they take up physically, of course, but also the place that they take up spiritually.

No, not something metaphysical, but something I feel is real.

There is an energy to a dog. Each and every single dog has this unseen force.

I’m not talking about an actual, tangible thing, I’m a science guy, but I’m talking about the fact that a dog CHANGES your mood.

I’m talking about how a dog, most days, may be the parts of your day that are the BEST parts of your day. That IS some kind of force.

A loss of that can rock you.

A chance encounter with a very kind woman told me through my tears that grief can go somewhere, that the pain, sadness and emptiness can be poured into another creature.

For months I didn’t want to even think about another dog. Maybe, I didn’t want to dishonour her memory Maybe it was because I had lost my best friend. But those words - grief can go somewhere - led us to Bunsen and Bunsen led our family to happiness again.

A week A.G.T. (after grief talk) my wife and I met a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy at a farmer’s market. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen in my entire life. It might surprise people, but I had NEVER ever seen a Berner puppy before.

Literally the next day someone through our school district mentioned a Swiss family had a litter of Berner pups. I told my wife about it, and she was leery at first. Berners are HUGE dogs and she didn’t want a big dog. With some convincing we were on the road to meet the puppies.

Upon our arrival we were met by a giant Bernese Mountain Dog and teenage girl. The Berner was a bit wary, but warmed up to us quickly. I couldn’t believe how big he was. After some chit chat she asked us if we wanted to see the puppies.

The answer was yes, obviously.

Inside their garage our family went and within seconds we were swarmed by tiny bears. Puppies are adorable, many puppies are a whole thing, and a pack of Bernese puppies make grown ass men cry.

The teen said we were welcome to say hello and see if there was one would like. As our family knelt down, the puppies hopped about, played with each other, with some waddling off to flop and snooze.

From the back of the pack I noticed a HUGE rolly-polly puppy. For the first few minutes he didn’t approach us, but held back, watching what was going on.

I locked eyes with him, little soulful, intelligent, kind eyes. I said, perhaps - hi puppy- and the dog padded over to me.

I held out my hand and the big puppy sucked and bit on my finger.

Slowly I scooped him up.

He was heavy and warm.

He was the softest thing I had ever touched.

His giant floppy ears felt like a fuzzy heated blanket.

His giant tri-colored paws grabbed my hand.

I couldn’t help myself, I kissed his head.

I’ll never forget that moment for as long as I live.

I looked at my wife with tears in my eyes and said - it’s this one.

This. This is the one.

She nodded.

That puppy came home with us a month later.

From the moment he stepped foot in our house the dark cloud of grief withdrew. Each and every second that little dog was the happiest thing on Earth. He knew his name within a day and somehow potty trained within the week. His fuzzy-chubby body just moving around was both hilarious and the cutest damn thing you ever saw.

We laughed and laughed until it hurt.

He pounced on random stuff with his comically oversized oven mitt paws. He listened to everything I said and I talked to him constantly.

In the night, when I was alone with him, I told him of Kahlan.

I have hundreds of puppy Bunsen stories, from him rolling his crate around like a hamster ball, to freaking out on a lemon, to his first encounter with a goat.

Bunsen brought that lost energy back into our house.

The energy of a dog.

That puppy grew up into a majestic dog that we see now as a hero.

Not only a hero that does what heroes do - saving lives - but a hero of the heart.

We have had the privilege of having Bunsen in our family for SIX years today, as Sunday was the big guy’s birthday.

That’s SIX years of adventures that would fill novels, SIX years of cuddles and hugs. Six wonderful, amazing years.

Bunsen is such a special dog, but every single dog is. That’s what makes all dogs good dogs. Some days, at random times,

I just look at Bunsen and say two words to him:

“Thank-you.”

Here is an audio version of the tweet on Twitter:

I’d love to know about your own dogs and what they mean to you, if you are up to it.

https://twitter.com/bunsenbernerbmd/status/1655698140123779072?s=20

And on Tik Tok

@bunsenbernerbmdHappy Birthday Bunsen! #dogs

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