I\u2019ll be honest up front\u2014this is the most difficult column\nI\u2019ve ever written. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winston, our Yorkshire terrier and my best fishing buddy\nfor 11 years, has gone to doggy heaven. His passing was free of suffering, but\nsudden and unexpected. He was my first pet and, for most of his life, an only child\nfor me and my wife, Anna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we talked about getting a dog, I was more in the\nbig, outdoorsy dog camp, while Anna had her heart set on a Yorkie. So, we\ncompromised\u2014we got Winston, and he became my adventure dog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And boy, what an adventure it was. Winston could do it\nall. He hiked Table Rock. He floated the Boise River. And\u2014shocker, I know\u2014he\nbecame a diehard fisherman. Every time I pulled out his little lifejacket, he made\na beeline for his car carrier, eager to hit the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winston\u2019s adventures on the water were too numerous to\ncount. We fished from banks, boats, canoes and kayaks. He spent warm afternoons\nchilling on my lap while I kicked around lakes in my float\ntube<\/a>. Technically, he even ice\nfished<\/a> once\u2014we were staying in a cabin\nat Warm Lake<\/a>, and Anna brought a bundled-up Winst to our shelter to check\nthings out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Winston was an intrepid hiker who made several miles-long\ntreks to alpine\nlakes<\/a>. I was amazed by his fearlessness and stamina. When the trail got\nnarrow and difficult, he had a special talent for picking the best route on his\nfour tiny paws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Winston loved a fun day in the sun. After blazing the\ntrail to our fishing hole or riding proudly on my knee with the boat breeze in\nhis hair, he always found a comfy spot to curl up and relax. When fish and\nexcitement struck, he scampered to the water\u2019s edge to see what we\u2019d caught. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Winston was a good luck charm. He was there the day I\ncaught my personal-best\nlargemouth bass<\/a>. It was comical how small he looked next to that lunker. He\nwas there when my buddy Caleb landed our first\ntiger muskie<\/a>. Winst joined me and Anna for the maiden voyage in my boat. On\nhis last outing in that boat, we caught a smallmouth bass and two catfish that\noutweighed him. More than once, I landed a nice fish by hand because Winston had\ndecided to take a nap in my net. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Winston was a champ, but after a long day outside, the\nlittle guy needed a snuggle. I\u2019d occasionally let him ride home on my lap,\nwhere he softly snored while I stroked his golden head. When we got home, he\nimmediately curled up with his mom. We weren\u2019t big on table scraps, but anytime\nI cooked our catch, Winston got to partake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the days since Winston left us, I have noticed a lot\nof emptiness. The blanket on our bed where he slept. His favorite spots by\nsunny windows and open heat vents. But mostly, the place in my heart that he\nfilled with so much happiness for so many years. I will always miss my dearest\nlittle friend, although I know in time the sadness will be eclipsed by happy\nmemories of our adventures together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As I held Winston in my arms for the last time and felt\nhis spirit leave us, all I could manage was a choked-up \u201cI love you, buddy.\u201d When\nI see him again, I think the first thing I\u2019ll say is \u201cThank you.\u201d These loving\nlittle creatures give us so much. I hope he knows how meaningful his presence\nwas in my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a fishing buddy at home, please do me this\none small favor. Pat his little head, give him a good scratch behind the ears,\nand tell him he\u2019s a good boy. And if it\u2019s nice out, take him fishing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ll be honest up front\u2014this is the most difficult column I\u2019ve ever written. Winston, our Yorkshire terrier and my best fishing buddy for 11 years, has gone to doggy heaven. His passing was free of suffering, but sudden and unexpected. He was my first pet and, for most of his life, an only child for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1213,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions\/1213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}