A sad announcement

A full obituary will follow, but this is to announce that we recently lost our much loved Bichon Frise, Gandalf the White, a.k.a. Gandalf the Brave, and Gandalf the Lion Hearted. He was only nine years old, young for a Bichon. He died unexpectedly in his sleep. As near as LWJ and the vet can figure out, it was some sort of cardiac event, and not a snake bite, as I had hypothesized. We buried him on our property, next to his Labrador older brothers Biscuit and Denali, in the former kid excavation known as the Octopus Hole.

I am terribly sad about this but it’s worse for Jeanne. He was her merry little companion and she misses him in many of her daily activities. But I no longer get my morning and evening tongue baths, I’ve lost my furry sleeping companion, and our house is no longer guarded by his alert ferocity. He earned his sobriquet by fighting off or at least escaping an attack from a large coyote who bit him twice, thinking wrongly that would be enough to kill him. After he was healed up from his surgery, he was off again exploring our property, leading his brothers out of bounds and generally making a lovable nuisance of himself. He was large for his breed, a true Bichon Frise Grande. We will never forget him.