old pets don’t realize they’re old. they still try to jump, run, and follow you everywhere. their bodies may be slowing down, but their love for life never does.
Tucker Budzyn is gone.
Eight years old. Golden retriever. Michigan. The dog a lot of us watched grow up from a clumsy puppy into the face half the internet knew by name.
Lymphoma. Chemo was working. They thought he was turning the corner. The tumor was in his intestines. When it shrank it left a hole. Infection took him overnight on September 2. Courtney and Mike did everything. It was not enough.
He spent his last weeks at the park. In the pool. Wrestling Todd in the backyard. Chicken at 9 in the morning and 9 at night because that is how the medicine went down. One last rollerblade run. That dog lived all the way to the end.
I followed him from the start. Not because he was famous. Because he was a good dog who made people softer for a minute in a hard world.
Rest easy, Tucker. You earned the love.
H/t @tuckerbudzyn