Our Bama

BoBo, BoBo Bear, Bams, Bamers, Bamie, FoFo, Bobies. Those were all our nicknames for our dog Bama. After 14 fantastic years, his run as the greatest dog on the planet came to a somber end today. This is one of those things that will be really tough for Sonya and I to talk about, so I’ll try explaining as much as I can here, so you won’t have to ask us about it when you see us.

If you ever met him, you knew he was special. One of those pets that, if lucky, you get to experience once in your lifetime. We were lucky enough to find him at the ripe old age of 10 weeks. I bought him for Sonya as a Christmas present back in 1992. We weren’t married, didn’t own a home, but for some strange reason I thought it was a good idea at the time.

In retrospect it was something that was totally out of character for me. It was one of those irrational, spontaneous things that I didn’t do. After a conversation with Sonya a few weeks before, we got into this debate over the type of dog we would get someday. She wanted a Boxer because they were handsome, sleek, energetic dogs that you could actually run around with. I wanted a Bull dog, because well, I had one as a kid and I thought they were cool looking. Not surprisingly, Sonya turned out to be right.

When I was shopping for a present, we had also started talking about buying a house together. Perhaps I thought that by getting her a dog, it would motivate her to go the whole 9-yards with buying the house. I don’t really know what I was thinking, other than, she wanted a Boxer, so I got her a Boxer.

My mom watched him for a week until Christmas, then brought him over to my dad’s place on Christmas Eve. I’ll never forget the look on Sonya’s face. She had this adorable puppy that was all in favor of checking out his new home. That first night, we let him sleep in his crate downstairs. He howled like, well, a puppy that was away from its mother for the first time. We eventually brought him up stairs to shut him up. The second we set him on a pillow on the floor, he never uttered another peep…for 14 years.

We had to go back to work a couple of days later, which is when our first adventure happened. We put him on the side of the house during the day while we went off to work. My sister had the presence of mind to suggest putting her cat’s tag on his collar until we were able to get one. Low and behold, he jumped the fence that day and went touring the neighborhood. Some kids down the street found him and called to tell us that they had our dog “Lucy”.

Over the years, we learned that Bama 1) couldn’t swim, 2) hated to have his paws touched, 3) farted like a buzz saw, 4) loved any human that would give him the time of day, 5) had a natural talent for modeling, 6) was incapable of passing a large rubber ball, 7) loved to dance, 8) hated squirrels, 9) tolerated small children better than any dog on the planet, 10) would park himself on any lap that made itself available and 11) was faithful to the very end.

Time eventually caught up with him, but not before living almost twice the life expectancy for his breed. Part of that probably had to do with the fact that he was an indoor dog that spent most of his final days guarding our bedroom from squirrels.

The kids are a little sad, but it’s been particularly hard on Sonya and I. Bam was our first child. He will forever be that dog once-in-a-lifetime dog that made our lives better. And for that we’re grateful to have known him.

More [Photos of Bama]