We adopted Lulu when she was just a pup late in 2014. And...

We adopted Lulu when she was just a pup late in 2014. And when she met our boys, she immediately found her pack. She loved them with her whole heart and would get upset if they were going to a movie or somewhere else she couldn’t go.

How did we know she was upset? She was the most communicative dog I’ve ever known. She had different growls to let us know if she was out of water or needed to go out or was disappointed we hadn’t taken her for a walk. We jokingly called her pushy, but really she was just so damn smart.

And, man, did she love to being outdoors in any way possible — whether lounging by the pool or playing in streams or going on hikes. She also was always on alert for critters like coyotes or bobcats on the hill behind out house. Though she was small, her bark was mighty and she always scared them off.

She also would hang out with me and Larissa after the boys when to bed, all three of us just decompressing after a day of work and errands and walks. Of course, it wasn’t just the boys she cared for. She showed our other dog Johnny, who we adopted in 2018 after he was rescued from an abusive home, how to trust people again.

In early May of this year, she went in for emergency surgery to remove a mass that had seemingly grown to 3 pounds over just a couple of days. And what followed was an awful diagnosis: a rare form of cancer that was treatable, but not curable, and treating it would only delay the inevitable and drastically affect her quality of life.

We opted to give her the best time we could with whatever time we had left. Lots of treats when she had an appetite, walks when she had the energy, a wagon ride through the neighborhood when she didn’t, and all the love we had.

The experts said it could be months, but likely weeks. The latter turned out to be true. She passed away at home on Saturday afternoon.

We’ve had some wonderful dogs in our lives. This one hurts more because Lulu wasn’t just a dog, she was a part of us, a part of how we functioned as a family. And now that part is gone.

Goodbye, Lulu. Thanks for raising us all.