Today I spent some time putting our house back into pre-amputee/pre-hospice dog state. Our mattress is no longer on the floor. The dog beds are consolidated again. Dog drool has been cleaned from some of the blankets (there’s only so much laundry that will fit into one day).

I suspect I will keep finding signs of Romeo all over for quite some time. There are the hair/slime drool marks on several walls from shaking his head while his mouth was gooey. There are the corners of walls with dents in the paint from his massive tail.

But the most noticeable is probably his legacy at the bottom of the stairs. Last summer (when he still had four legs), there was an “incident” with the stairs. As recounted to my Facebook friends:

June 30, 2010

While attempting to follow me up the stairs this morning, I heard Romeo’s typical CLUMP-CLUMP as he ungracefully galloped up the stairs. After just a few CLUMPs though, there was a loud THUD-THUD. Concluding that he had managed to fall down the few steps he had climbed, I peeked down to see how things were. The first thing I noticed was the hole in the wall. Yes, our great dane managed to punch a hole in the wall by falling down the stairs. He is beyond special. By the way, he is fine and even immediately after the incident he looked at me as if to say “What’s up? I’m good, how’re you?”

Something to remember him by*

I suspect his face looked something like this at the time – plus or minus the drool.

*The hole is still there. Trent and I aren’t so great with home improvement projects.

October 21, 2006 we picked up an awkward 10 month old Great Dane from his loving foster home. Today, 1776 days later, we said goodbye to this big dog who has been a huge part of our lives.

Seven months after his diagnosis with osteosarcoma, it was finally too much for Romeo’s body. His lung tumors were making it too hard for him to function on a daily basis.

After another night of Romeo in discomfort and no sign of another upswing in energy, this morning we decided that today was the day. I took the afternoon off from work and we all hung out in the backyard for hours.

We moved almost every single dog bed outside making a huge pillow island on the patio. At several points I had all three dogs curled up with me. We enjoyed the afternoon’s sunny, perfect mid 70s weather while in the shade of our huge maple tree with mild breezes wafting outdoorsy smells to Romeo’s nose.

Several cats hung out at the back sliding glass door, asking to be part of the event. After laughing at her antics to get our attention, we finally put a harness on She-Ra and let her out on leash. Romeo seemed confused about why a cat was outside, but soon went back to napping.

When it was time, some of the dog beds migrated to my car for Romeo’s ride. Trent used Romeo’s harness one more time to lift up, help steady and at times carry Romeo to the car.

As usual, Romeo enjoyed his car ride, napping on the 40 minute drive. He almost inhaled the entire package of hot dogs he got to eat when we arrived. He was polite to my coworkers who helped him on his way. Romeo went peacefully, with Trent, me and Julio by his side.

The house is incredibly quiet at the moment, even though the other two dogs, all the cats and Trent and I are all home.

Thanks to everyone who sent happy thoughts and good wishes to our Romeo. He will be deeply missed.

One last car ride