We walked into the Longmont Human Society before Christmas in December of 2015. Our son was 7 months old and lit up whenever we saw a dog; we honestly thought this was going to be a fun walk-through for his sake. We couldn’t have imagined that our best friend would be the very first we would lay our eyes on. Richie hadn’t been discouraged by his journey, he was waiting for his forever home with a twinkle in his eye. We knew the very moment we stood in front of him, he chose us.

Little did we know that Richie had been favored at LHS; he had been the desk friend and was spoiled with sleepovers. We were shocked to hear that there hadn’t been adoption inquiries, he was perfect from the tip of his big noggin to the bottom of his speckled paws (lethal tail included). I will never forget the volunteers coming to say goodbye to him, happy tears in their eyes, when we took him home. I wish I could hug every soul who helped us to adopt him, to thank them for the best years of our lives.

We added our daughter to our family 9 months after Richie came home with us. He was the best big brother to our babies. He played with, napped near them, and cleaned up after them. He loved our family adventures. He loved water and the snow. He loved to run. He loved every human, animal, and landscape before him. He WAS pure love. He never growled, rarely barked, and was gentle with every single soul, human to squirrel. Sometimes I don’t know how we got so lucky to live beside him for so many years.

He began to slow down with age over time. On our ninth Christmas morning with our boy, he crossed the Rainbow Bridge with love in his heart and that same twinkle in his eye. We will be forever grateful for every single day we shared with him, even as we learn how to navigate the world without his big presence. Thank you, LHS. What you’ve given us, what you gave Richie, it’s priceless. We are forever changed and grateful.

We’ll visit soon.

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