Goodbye Keyser

Monday usually is currently-challenge day . But current events meant that I wasn't in the mood to fill in a card...

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to our big white doggie-friend Keyser. 

for more pictures of Keyser you can go HERE!

We adopted Keyser 3 years ago from a shelter in Zaandam. We already had a dog , Bachera (who passed away last year) and we where looking for a doggie-friend for her. The shelter told us Bachera was a Dogo Argetino ( she probably was a dogo x bull terriër mix) and since we really like the breed we decided to get a male too.
After some searching online we found Keyser in a shelter nearby. So we took Bachera and went to meet Keyser. When we arrived at the shelter they had Keyser in an outdoor run. The first thing that struck us was his size. He was huge!! 50 kilo's and as big as a small horse. The second thing was how dignified he looked. Like he was the king of the world. His name befitted him, Keyser is dutch for "emperor".

Bachera and Keyser took a long time to get used to each other but they could have so much fun together.

As huge as he was, inside that big dog was a tiny little lap dog. Keyser was a big cuddle-bug ,  loved sitting in your lap and lying in bed with us on sunday mornings. He also love to run on the beach or the woods. He was a friendly giant towards people and  was very gentle with kids.
If you asked him a question he would always resopnd with a collection of sounds that you can only describe as a mix between the sounds a seal and a cow makes.

When we adopted Keyser he was already 8 years old. But he was stille young at heart and didn't really showed his age.When Bachera passed away ( very unexpectedly) last year he needed a new friend so we adopted Abby. He instantly got along with Abby, eventhough she was so very young (she is only 2 years old). We hestitated a bit if we should adopt her because we weren't shure he could keep up with her. But he could play with her forever. They would bounce around in the garden, run together on the beach.. even sleep together on the couch.
Keyser loved the garden. He could spend hours in the summer just laying in the grass. And even in winter would always demand to be let in the garden. Just for a small inspection-round of "his"garden.
 He was madly in love with Nico. He would recognise the sound of our car and would alwasy run towards the door making his signature howling sounds.

But over the summer Keyser started having some issues with walking. And over the past 2 months he steadily became worse. He began showing his age. He was on strong painkillers for a while but last week his kindeys started failing too.. When he began losing control of his bladder we knew it was time to let him go.
Having to take him to the vet yesterday was the hardest thing I ever had to do.
He passed away very peacefully.
He was 11,5 years old.

Today the house is empty without him.
No big doggie-face to greet you when you come into the room.. No more typical Keyser-howling...
He was very loved and will ben very much missed..