There is something special about a boy and his dog, at least that’s what people say….. But I couldn’t really have a dog when I was a boy. My mom was allergic. It didn’t stop me from trying. I’d bring home every stray I found, and we’d keep it for a couple days while my mom sneezed and her eyes watered, and then I’d be forced to give the dog up when we found someone else who could take it. So I never got to have the boy and his dog relationship that gets written about. At least not while I was a boy.

Not until I was 27. That’s when I finally had a place to live where I could have a dog, a job that allowed me the flexibility to have a puppy, and, as you can imagine, I still had a burning desire that had smoldered (mostly unsatisfied) for the better part of three decades. It was 1997 when I got Hula, and I maintain that she was one of the cutest puppies there has ever been. We did all the things that you when you are in love with a dog, I took her everywhere with me. We even drove cross country, just the two of us.

Thinking back on it makes me want to do it again, those were some good times. It was like I was a little boy again and she was with me on my adventures. She was there when I first starting dating Vanessa, she moved with us from SF down to LA, she was there when we brought Odessa home from the hospital, she watched Ogden get born in our bedroom. I have watched both young children mistreat her many different ways and never saw her respond with anything but a wagging tail and a kiss. She’s been with me for both heartbreak and hope. She’s watched the heaviest scenes of my life play out and she stayed steady.

She’s old now. Her muzzle is white, her eyes are cloudy, and there’s cancer growing in her bones. The doctor said I could cut off her leg and it may give her a little more time, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that to her. Over the last few months, she has been hurting more and more, and today was finally the day we had to put her down. I’ve known this time would come since I first got her in 1997, and I have shuddered every time I reminded myself that it was an inevitability. Sadly, tonight we all said goodbye.

Hula dog, I wish we could do it all again and again. I will always be your boy.

-Jamie Reilly