We had to say goodbye to our sweet little boy, Edgar von Poophandle, on April 14, 2021. We suspect he might have had a stroke in the middle of the night. He was very fidgety all night and when he tried to walk this morning, he had obvious weakness in his rear legs, walked in circles, and fell quite a bit. We observed him for quite a while before we took him to the emergency vet. Jean, Lily and I were all there to wish him well on his final journey.

We found Edgar at People United for Pets in Issaquah through PetFinder. He was born on September 24th, 2005 and was 13 months old when we got him. He was surrendered by a breeder who had determined that Edgar was not show-quality – he had an “outie” belly button and a severe under bite. When we went to PetCo in Issaquah meet him, I knelt down beside him and he flipped over on his back peeing all over himself. It was love at first sight! He went home with us that day.

We felt Edgar would be a good match for Dharma, our Bichon-Westie mix. When we brought him home, she ignored him for a week. She would jump up on the bed or couch and “eyeball” him knowing he couldn’t jump as high as she could. One morning, I heard a bunch of commotion in the living room and they were romping and playing together! They were best buds after that.

Edgar had a quirky personality – he let you know right away if he trusted you or not and, if he didn’t, he would nip at you. He never did it to me, but I could see from his body language when he was ready to do it to someone else. And there were plenty of people he didn’t 100% trust. Our friend, Dianne Pond, probably said it best about him: “Cute goes a long way”.

We had plenty of adventures together as Edgar loved riding in the car (and the John Deere Gator). We took a road trip on the Cascade Loop several years ago and stayed at Mt. Vernon, Lake Chelan, and Leavenworth. We also visited his Aunt Louise in Sequim. He loved chasing birds, squirrels, and deer, but never caught any. He also liked wandering down the road at our Woodinville home.

We could see Edgar was slowing down the past couple of years. He had developed a limp in his front left leg due to an elbow issue – common in Shih Tzus. He was nearly blind, mostly deaf, had dry eye and cataracts. He was a trooper about taking his meds and getting eye drops three times a day. Of course all meds were accompanied with treats!

Edgar was my first male dog. He was completely attached to me and would follow me everywhere. If he lost track of me, he would run around the house until he found me. If I was away from the house, he would sit and wait by the front door until I returned. I had never felt such loyalty from any of my dogs.