I put my dog Conner to sleep tonight. I can’t begin to describe the hole he leaves in our heart and our home, but maybe if I tell you a little about him it will help me with this awful sadness I feel.
About seven years ago, my wife and I, married for just a year and a half at that point, decided we wanted a dog. After scouring rescue websites and the County’s website for weeks, we finally settled on a white terrier dog at the County’s Baldwin Park shelter.
The next Saturday, we made the 1.5 hour drive to the shelter. We arrived with the print-out in our hand and the overworked but kind shelter workers showed us to his cage.
The white dog we came for was there, but something wasn’t right. He snarled at us and nearly bit us when we reached in to pet him.
But the other dog in the enclosure, a 20 pound black terrier mix, gently jumped up on the cage and licked my wife’s hands. He had the kindest, most gentle manner about him. He made direct eye contact with us and we learned he was about a year and a half old and had been dropped off at the shelter by a family who moved away. His mellow attitude made this an easy choice- later that day, we decided to bring him home.
I’ll never forget the way Conner stared at me on the ride home. Everyone who has ever met him said he made unusual eye-contact with people. He was not like your average dog who glances at your hands for a treat…no, this dog gazed in your eyes with his deep marble-brown eyes.
For 7 years we took Conner (whose nickname became “The Boyo” don’t ask me why) everywhere with us. He spent hundreds of hours running and chasing squirrels in the play yards of local schools and local parks. It was Conner I had in mind when I organized a group of dog-lovers to go before the City Council in 2006 and ask the City for a dog park. Conner helped break in Central Bark a few years later. His tiny paw-prints were scattered all over beaches in Ventura as well as Towsley Canyon, Castaic Lake and other local dog-friendly hangouts. I guess you could say we were one of “those people” who took their dog everywhere with them, who pampered their pet and who treated their dog like a child.
But he returned the favor, and then some. He wasn’t a dog who would win any AKC awards, but he was the most loyal & intelligent dog I’ve ever met. He never ran away from us (even while chasing cats or squirrels, he always came back), he never strayed far while at the dog park, he was loyal and faithful but kept his trademark terrier independent streek too. On most nights, he slept with us on the bed on all but the hottest SCV nights.
Without Conner, there might not be an SCVTalk. It was during one of my long walks with Conner in 2006 that I thought about starting a blog exclusively about Santa Clarita news. I’d often think of stories and posts to write later while I was walking Conner down Lyons Avenue or through Valencia’s Paseos. I even took him with me to news events; in 2008 he and I were splashed by someone who threw a water bottle at some Prop 8 protesters we were standing near!
In these last few months of him being sick, our long walks have been one of the things I miss the most. I know he missed them too, but he just wasn’t up for it anymore.
Here on SCVTalk, Conner had his own handle: WiFido. When I tested traffic speeds earlier this year, WiFido was my copilot. When readers wrote to me asking if they saw me riding my bike and towing my dog behind it on our way to Central Bark, I answered yes, beaming with pride. When friends invited us over, we hinted that we’d like to bring our dog, and they graciously obliged us. (Thank you)
But all good things come to an end. In October he was attacked and bitten by a much larger dog while my wife was walking him. He healed quickly but developed an infection on the other side of his neck. We tried -oh we tried!- to heal him from this secondary infection, taking him to local veterinarians and renowned animal hospitals for months, but in the end, his tiny 19lb body (he had lost 11lbs in 2 months) succumbed and we were left with the only merciful option available to us.
So tonight I said goodbye to my dog Conner. I told him that I’ll miss him and always remember him, I told him that, for a $35 dog who was cast off into a shelter, he brought incalculable joy and happiness to my life, and that he will always occupy a place in my heart.
So long Conner, my boyo. I will miss you so much.
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