What My Dog Taught Me

I lost a dear friend today. I am devastated.

I miss you Machi. You were the love of everyone in our family.

You captured the heart of everyone who ever met you, even perfect strangers.

You even charmed a curmudgeon old neighbor.

I don’t know how you did it, buddy.

You lived a life filled with love and grace.

I never got to tell you how you were always a role model to me.


You taught me about dependability.

We all know what retrievers are known for, but you took it to the next level.

Any ball thrown into the water you went for, but that also meant any object skateboards, oars, coconut shells, you name it.

Anything we threw you would retrieve.

Even when it sunk to the bottom of the pool, you had this uncanny ability to dive 7 feet underwater to retrieve.


You taught me about

When one of us would go underwater in the lake, you would stick your head down to see if we were alright.

You waited until all the humans left the lake, and only then would you go inside.





Even that time we went to the ocean and you got a cerebral adema from drinking too much salt water.

You taught me about tenacity.

That time you were stuck in the reeds by the lake, and would have drowned had my dad not jumped in to save you.


But you also taught me about love.

The soul is an ephemeral concept, and often something I question in humans, but you definitely had one.

Perhaps you were named Hamachi (Japanese for “yellowtail fish”) for your brilliant irrididescent soul.

Your love always came back to us, just like a tennis ball thrown into any boday of water.





Loyal is an understatement when describing you.

Your love was rock solid, a guarantee.

When someone would launch a tennis ball into a body of water,

There was no doubt that you would retrieve it.

Yes, you were programmed to retrieve. But I sensed that you were not necessarily programmed to love, but did so from a place that was genuine and true.

You were so inspiring to me because all you knew is love.

I have no doubt that you were named


There are times in life when you pause and reflect and search for meaning.

This is one of them.


My dog for the last 10 years, who was around when I graduated from college, moved to the middle east, and moved back from the middle east.

I knew yesterday that we were approaching the end. It was the first time I’ve seen a look in his eyes other than pure love.

What a special soul he was. We would take him swimming in the lake. As soon as one of us jumped in, he would immediately follow. If you went underwater, he would submerge his head to look for you.

He was a ball retrieving machine. He never stopped.



I pet him and got an empty stare and not even one wag of the tail.


I look at how much he taught me over the years, how he made me smile, how he loved me and looked after me, how patient and caring he was with every human or animal he encountered.

“permission to euthanize”