Aurora Wise May 1, 2011 – July 10, 2024
When our 18-year-old daughter brought Aurora home in 2011, we had no idea what adventures awaited
us all. This sweet girl joined our other dog, Abby, and Lewis the cat seamlessly and immediately brought
what would soon become millions of laughs and tremendous joy to our family. We called her our “Marley
dog” as she managed to eat everything that should’ve made her tummy sick, but never did. She made
messes and had the absolute funniest “guilty face.” She LOVED to hide things in weird places all over the
house as if she planned to come for it later, but she never did. The kids always knew if they had a missing
candy bar or something like that, to search in the cracks of the couch cushions, in the potted plants, under
and between anything in the house and they might find it. We came to find joy in what others might
consider an annoyance. We laughed about it, and it became her trademark behavior.
Her other trademark was her famous “underbite” which was the focus of endless photos. She had a funny
way of tucking her upper lip up, showing her crooked bottom teeth. The number of laughs she gave us
with this is impossible to count. She let the kids dress her up in clothes and was unbothered by it. She
loved her sister pup Abby and her cat brother Lewis until they crossed the rainbow, and her cat siblings
Noodle, Fuzz, and Herbie were by her side until her last day with us. Even though she always made us
laugh, she was our fierce protector. She had a sixth sense for people, and we learned to trust her instinct.
She loved camping, hiking, taking long walks, playing in the water, chasing the ball with Abby, going on
“bye-bye’s” in the car and even going to work with Mom sometimes. Our family always said she would be
the one to defy the odds and live to be 20 due to her spryness in her older years. The gray on her face is
the only thing that ever showed her age. That’s why learning of her illness that showed itself overnight
was hard for us to come to terms with and has left us beyond brokenhearted.
Waking up to her empty bed beside me, not seeing her run to find a shoe to greet us with when we walk in
the door, not hearing her footsteps running alongside us each morning, not having her race to grab that
dropped piece of cheese on the floor, not having her snuggling on the couch during movie time, walks
without her, not hearing her snore or growl in annoyance at the cats, among a million other little things are
what breaks our hearts so much every day. This is going to take a long time for our family.
Aurora brought smiles to everyone who saw her and shared over 13 wonderful years of laughter,
companionship, and love with us. We are grateful that our whole family could surround her as she crossed
that rainbow to once again romp and run with Abby, as they are back to annoying Lewis like they did years
ago and having a wonderful time without pain.
Thank you for giving us so many great years sweet girl and have fun with Abby and Lewis until we see
you again one day. We will forever miss you until then so run free sweet girl. We love you!