Farewell, Sweet Henry

It is with great sadness that I say that yesterday we had our sweet dog Henry put down. He was full of cancer and each day was having a much harder time. He's been such a part of our lives the last eight years. It's going to be difficult not to see him when I wake up in the morning or come home or go for a run or eat the scraps after dinner or go for an adventure walk. We will miss him a lot. I wanted to remember the good times with him, so I started going through photos, pulling the older ones from my blog and the newer ones from my computer (some have also been on the blog).

We got Henry when Desert Boy was one year old; we wanted them to be buddies. And they sure were. Henry helped Desert Boy walk a little faster so that he wouldn't get caught.


Desert Boy tried to ride Henry. That never went too well.

Desert Boy fed Henry his dog food a lot during the years. Desert Boy also fed himself the dog food.

We had a lot of apricots one summer, but they kept disappearing. It took me a while to realize that both Desert Boy and Henry were eating them.


Henry always loved to chase the cows. But sometimes he would be calm enough to have a moment with them.



As a black lab, Henry loved the water. He was in it a lot.


It didn't matter if the water was ice cold, he still enjoyed it.

Along came Desert Girl, and Henry helped protect her too.

Henry was part of the family, ready to be in the family photos.

As he grew bigger, we built him a bigger dog house.

He liked it.

So did the kids.

We honored Henry by making a new dinosaur and christening it Henryosaurus.

Henry like to be with us for bike rides.

I think he would have liked to have gone on the school bus when the kids headed off to school.

Henry was an outside dog, and he loved nature. Here he checks out a little snake.

And although he loved to chase rabbits, when he encountered this baby one, he just sniffed at it.

Henry came on walks with us all the time (photo credit: Peter and Sarah Schenk).

He loved swimming and fetching sticks.

And although he wasn't so fond of work, he went along for the company.

Henry went hiking with us high in the mountains, delighted when we found patches of snow.

He summited several peaks, including Mount Moriah and the North Schell Peak.

So high up!

He sure saw some spectacular scenery.

He also went into slot canyons.

He came on numerous camping trips and when I would get up in the morning to take photos, he came along. Here he is stretching out on Ibex.

And he was part of my shadow selfie.

For the last year, he hadn't been moving quite as well, but up until a couple months ago, he could still do a 3-mile run with me. Except that he just ran three miles, whereas in the past he would run about double that as he sniffed in the sagebrush and made loops and played. He was such a loyal dog, always there for us.

 Last weekend we took him for his last hike. It wasn't easy for him, but we could tell he really enjoyed being outside and with his family.

So long, Henry. 

Thanks for being there for us. 

It's been a great run. You will be missed.