[Dailydrool] Murphy Byers to the Bridge (long)

[Tammara Byers]

On Friday, our beloved Murphy went to heaven,  where I am sure he is 
sitting on my Mom's lap enjoying the ear rubs she is giving out.
I am not really sure where to begin. The pain is so deep and our home so 
quiet.
We adopted Murphy 15 years ago in April from the Spokane Humane 
Society,  he was an adorable 10 mo old basset lab cross,  sitting 
patiently in his run, and he caught our eye.
We spent some time with him and that was all it took,  brought him home, 
renamed him Murphy from the totally unacceptable name of muffy and he 
became all ours.
He and our son grew up together, he welcomed and accepted the other 
houndies adopted since, loved his truck rides with his ears flapping in 
the wind, was a total love hound and ,except for the UPS truck, loved 
everyone.
I really didn't expect the day to come where I would have to make a 
decision about him,  I had noticed him panting a little more,  but a pup 
going on 16 years old in June and with his heart having to work harder, 
I didn't give it much thought.
About 2 weeks ago we noticed a mass next to his ribcage,  and we had 
surgery scheduled for this coming Tuesday to remove it,  it burst on 
Friday morning, off we went to the vet.
The vet told us he felt the mass was far bigger than we anticipated, and 
with Murphy being almost 16, his recovery would be difficult,  not to 
mention he wasn't sure how well he could close the wound.
I took Murphy home with me and spent the rest of the afternoon with him, 
looked in his eyes and realized that he was hanging on for us,  I 
couldn't do it, couldn't be selfish with the most wonderful dog I have 
ever known.
We took him back to the vet at 4:30 on Friday and he made his way to the 
Bridge.
Our hearts are broken, and the house is way too quiet, even with 3 
houndies here.
He never failed to greet us at the door, loved his toys and his treats. 
If a dog could smile,  Murphy did.
He was a hit every where we went,  we took him to the Basset Blast for 
the last 6 years, and if we didn't have a leash on him,  he would have 
been Murphy napped, everyone thought he was adorable and so sweet, and 
he was always will be so. He acted like a puppy until 2 days before he 
left us.
His picture was taken with his siblings in last years Daily Drool 
Calender,  Sept 9th,  the cute white pup sitting in front. 
There will never be another Murphy dog, fluffer nutter butter hound, our 
fluffy butt,  and he will always have a huge piece of my heart.
Run free baby, until we meet again and I can once again look into those 
warm brown eyes and take back that part of my heart you have forever taken.
In sorrow,
Tammara,
forever Momma to Murphy 6/93 - 5/09