Bogart grew to be about the size of a small pony. Every night he would stumble into our rooms and hop up on our beds. As you can imagine, he would take up about 3/4 of the bed and the rest was so generously left for us. He meant well, but just couldn't grasp that this was our bed, not his. Eventually after endless hours of waking up in the middle of the night and shoving him off the bed, we finally decided to get him his own bed to sleep on.
Bogart was my best friend. We hung out all the time. Even if it was just him laying on the floor and me propping my feet up on him while watching TV. We had a lot of personal moments together too. People always said that a dog was mans best friend, but I never understood until we had Bogart. For those of you who knew him, he wasn't exactly a very "active" dog. As a matter of fact, he was one of the laziest dogs ever. You could take him for a walk down the street and he'd already be panting a lung out before we had gotten a hundred yards from the house. We wouldn't let him sleep down stairs because he would get into the trash, so we had to lock him in our rooms with us till the next morning. On many occasions before bed, we found him at the bottom of the stairs, looking up them like they were Mt. Rushmore. We'd have to go down there and give him some, encouragement.
He never really was a quick learner. We always told him not to get into the trash, or get up on the couch, but he did it anyways, like any dog would. Even when we would yell at him or bonk him on the head, he still loved us. He hated being alone too. We could yell at him one minute, and he'd come into the room the next and rub up against our legs. He was a hairy dog too, so his hair went everywhere! We'd yell at him again for having so much hair, but he just licked us and was content My siblings can relate to this very well. At one point in my life, I was convinced we were gonna have another dog out of all the hair he produced. If not for the hair, we probably would've forgot he was there because he was so lazy and didn't do anything but eat, sleep, and poop. Whenever we would arrive home from anywhere, you could here his tail THUMP THUMP THUMPING on the ground inside and when the door would be opened, he'd lunge at us with joy. As time passed, the visits at the door became less and less frequent.
When it came to the later years in Bogart's life, it became apparent to us that he was going to pass away soon. He had really bad hip problems and basically walked sideways. It was also very hard for him to get up the stairs. We had to carry him up the stairs numerous times because he just couldn't do it and would fall down the stairs. One night, Bogart lay on my floor and I got down on the floor and laid with him. He licked my hand and laid his head back down. I still remember his heavy breathing and heart beating.
Bogart died the summer after my freshman year. We knew he was in a lot of pain, so my dad took him to the vet one day and had him put down. My dad said that when they had him on the table, he licked my dads hand and rubbed him with his nose. As he passed, he had a smile on his face and my dad knew he wasn't in anymore pain. We all miss Bogart and know he is in a better place now.
I share these stories about my dog with you because we can relate him with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus loved us so much that he came here and died for us. Even though we doubt him and don't follow all of his commandments, he always has his hand stretched out to us and he will always love us no matter what. I know that the Savior loved Bogart and that he is with him now. I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I can see Bogart again and be able to cuddle up with him again and know that everything is gonna be okay. I have a testimony of our Savior and his plan for us. I also have a testimony of this Gospel and the truthfulness of it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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