Stanley’s Story Part 1

I actually started writing this the day he left us, when my emotions were all over the place. Extreme thoughts of mortality and other very heavy topics were swirling through me at a rapid fire pace. So I gave myself some time to process things and I landed here. My only hope is that this memorandum does Stanley's story justice. 

My husband got Stanley back in 2007 from his then roommate (the best man at our wedding) Leon. As the story goes, Leon got Stanley from a vet. And as it turned out, the vet saved Stanley from a dog fighting situation she helped bring down. He was just a puppy then. The vet rescued Stanley and kept him as her pet. I guess a few years later, the vet ended up with too many small dogs and then had a baby and Stanley was not doing well in that environment. He needed a place of his own. Leon knew the vet through work and decided he would take Stanley when she explained the situation. And so the story goes when Leon brought Stanley to Thomas’ house (where he was living) for the first time, Stanley ran right over to Thomas and would not leave his side. It was like Stanley was saying that he had found his person. Leon was good enough to recognize that and told Thomas that it looked like he had a new dog. I am not sure how or why Stanley chose Thomas but I am glad that he did so I was given the chance to be part of his life. 

I first met Stanley back in the late summer of 2008. It was the first time I went over to my now husband’s house to hang out. (We still live in that house now btw.) I remember meeting Stanley and thinking what everyone did when they first met him, noticing how big his head was and how intimidating he looked. That quick judgment of course was fleeting because Stanley immediately trotted over to me, tail wagging. He did then what he would do even into his old age, sat down right at my feet and turned his head back as if to say, “well hurry up and pet me already!” 

I was pretty surprised upon being given a tour of my then boyfriend’s house, that Stanley had a room in the back all to himself (what would become a storage room for a few years and then eventually Emma's room). It was simply furnished of course. One, vintage looking wing-back chair rested on top of a plush floral rug and an armoire stood solitary in the corner, bachelor decor at its finest. “This is where Stanley sleeps,” I was informed. I don’t think I was aware of what connections my brain made that day but I’m pretty sure somewhere in my neuron path a light went off saying “hey, this guy takes very good care of his dog, he is a keeper!” So in a way, Stanley brought us together from the very beginning.

Shortly after we started dating, I moved into the house with Bella. We of course introduced Stanley to Bella a few times before moving in and of course there were some minor growing pains but in the end, Stanley and Bella became inseparable friends, just like their human counterparts. Those were the golden days. Those were still, peaceful, simple times shared by four friends. We would go on very long walks just the four of us for hours. So much so, that we would come back with sore legs. We would go to the dog park just about every weekend as well. Again so much so, that we had a whole routine. We drove out to the 4 mile run dog park in Arlington and we would stay for hours at a time, letting the dogs run and splash in the creek. Then we would bathe them at the self-clean dog wash place on the corner and be off to visit Thomas’ mom for the rest of the afternoon. 

These visits are where we took some of the best photos of the dogs ever. It was an odd time when cell phone cameras were not very good yet so you still needed to carry a camera around all the time and doing that while running after dogs was hard so it pains me to say that there are very few pictures from these glorious younger years of Stanley but they were the best of times for sure. It was before we had a human child and before the real burden of adult responsibilities fell on us. Bella and Stanley were young and energetic as well and we all delighted in each other’s company. 

After a while of dating/ living with Thomas, I was told there was a very real possibility that I could never have children. That news was devastating and we handled it as best we could. I remember having a conversation about it and Thomas said “well if we can’t have kids, at least we have the dogs.” I realize now that I was possibly more so attached to Stanley because at one point I etched it onto my brain that I would not have any human offspring, that he was my child. Not sure if this sounds odd or whatever but it is the honest truth. 

It was after this that we got the puppies, Reese and Charlie. I figured if we could not have children then we could certainly surround ourselves with dogs. Stanley of course was not too keen on the new pups but ended up warming up to them after a while. We were still going to the dog park regularly at this point and spending almost all of our free time doing various doggy activities. At some point, they opened a dog park near our house and we started going there a bit more. But it seemed with age, came trouble for Stanley. Everyone has their personality traits and Stanley definitely had some strong ones. He was always a very dominate dog and did not get along with other male dogs too well.  This meant that dog park visits became less of a relaxing, fun experience, and more of a follow Stanley around to keep him out of trouble experience. We eventually ended up bringing him but keeping him on a leash which ultimately turned out to be unfair so we decided to give dog parks a rest for a while. 

He was also an odd character when it come to other things as well. He had some sort of allergy and would constantly chew on his feet. We got foot spray, steroids, different dog food, the works but the guy would not stop. Finally we chalked it up in part to OCD. The guy just liked to eat his darn feet. He also had a thing with the ocean. Before Emma was born but after we got the puppies, we took all of the dogs to the beach for a week one summer. We let them run around and all of the dogs loved it…except Stanley. For some reason, he was obsessed with going after the waves. He would jump in after each wave, bark at it, and try to eat it. It was him versus the ocean in a battle that would have been never ending had we not pulled him out. At one point he got pretty far out and Thomas panicked and went in after him. Needless to say, later that night, Stanley had saltwater coming out of every bodily crevice. We decided then that he couldn’t ever go back to the ocean. 

There were many other small instances with Stanley that never left a dull moment. He really did not like any small animals and would go after anything he could. (RIP some small furry friends) I will never forget that we were letting the dogs run in the field behind our neighborhood and Stanley ran off. When we found him, I could not believe my eyes, he had ricochet off a tree and jumped onto a metal fence. He was literally standing on his back paws, balancing while jumping off the fence into the air to try to get a cat that had run up a tree.  He also managed to run out the front door once and found our very understanding neighbor’s chickens...I will leave that run in to the imagination... 

Part 2 to follow...