Mr. Spock - He Lived Long and Prospered

Mr. Spock has died, and my heart is broken.  Realistically, I figured this would be his last year with us, but I still wasn’t ready for him to go.

Robert and I adopted him when he was 10 months old.  It’s unusual to get a greyhound that young, but he broke his foot as a puppy, which kept him from a racing career.  In fact, he still had a cast when we brought him home.  When it was ready to come off a few weeks later, I had to take him back to the vet in Atlanta (who took excellent care of him).  It was a beautiful, sunny day in June after several days of rain.  The DJ on the radio reveled in the good weather, too, playing “Blue Sky” by the Allman Brothers Band.  It was a happy day all around, and ever since, I’ve thought of “Blue Sky” as Mr. Spock’s and my song.

I don’t know what possessed me to want to adopt this particular greyhound, but I’m so glad we did.  He was wonderfully quirky, probably because he didn’t go through the typical greyhound training at the racetrack.  Can dogs have autism?  If so, I suspect he might have had it.  He was always big on rules and structure, and anything out of the ordinary threw him for a loop.  He wouldn’t go through a partially open door.  He never ventured into rooms where he knew he wasn’t supposed to go.  In recent months, when his back legs got weak and we had to spot him on the basement stairs, we had to do a particular sequence of steps at the bottom before he would go up.

Mr. Spock was always insecure.  I joked that he would be omega dog if we had that many.  However, it was a trait more endearing than annoying (well, except for his incessant licking, which drove me bonkers!).  Often, he would rest his head on the back of one of our other greyhounds.  Mr. Spock sometimes would whine a little for no apparent reason.  I would say that he was experiencing existential angst.  We were kindred spirits :)

Mr. Spock usually didn’t get along with other dogs outside of our own pack.  Therefore, I had to quit taking him to gatherings with other dogs: Greyfest, greyhound meet & greets, etc.  However, Mr. Spock loved people and enjoyed outings like going to the Deer Festival.  He also did well as a therapy dog, visiting the residents of our local nursing home (Greyhounds & Grey Hairs.)  He was an excellent snuggler, too!

He was always skinny, even for a greyhound.  No matter how much we fed him, he wouldn’t put on weight.  Dr. Gay was our vet for many years.  He was very kind but a dry, no-nonsense, country vet.  When Mr. Spock was young, I asked Dr. Gay if I should be concerned about Mr. Spock being so skinny.  Dr. Gay simply said, “Do you want a fat dog?”

Mr. Spock got even skinnier in his old age, as both animals and people tend to do.  Even so, he was happy and had a great quality of life up until the end.  On Thursday morning he was bouncing around for his breakfast; he was dead when Robert and I got home from work. We think he had a heart attack.  I’m so thankful he didn’t suffer long.

He didn't quite make it to his 15th birthday in July.  My cocker spaniel Garth also almost made it to 15, but I had Garth before I met Robert.  Cosmo made it to 15, but he was three when we adopted him.  Therefore, Mr. Spock is the dog Robert and I have had the longest since we've been married.  We got Mr. Spock about five months after we moved into our current house.  It sure is empty without him.

RIP Mr. Spock (7/16/03 - 5/10/18).  You lived long and prospered.