Sebastian joined our family on April 14, 2001 when we still lived in Fort Collins. He was such a cute and loving puppy and instantly bonded with our 4 year old daughter, our 2 year old son, and our 12 year old cat Baskin. Sebastian grew quickly, he wasn’t puppy sized for long! We almost changed his name to Tigger because he loved to jump and bounce wherever he went! Sebastian loved to go for walks in the park with us and meet new animals and people, he was an instant friend to all.
When Sebastian was 1 year old, we bought new leather furniture and moved our old fabric covered sectional into our garage until I could haul away. When we came home from work the next afternoon, we had a surprise. Sebastian had come into the garage (through his doggie door that we had forgotten to close), and completely dismantled the entire sectional down to the wooden frame! Foam literally fell out of the garage door as we opened it and Sebastian was sound asleep on a pile of it! This was the only ornery thing he ever did, but he was so cute we just laughed and made a trip to the dump with him in the front seat of the truck!
When Sebastian was about 3-1/2 years old, we moved to our country home in Weld County. He had no problem making the transition from city dog to country dog, in fact, he loved it. Sebastian loved the wide open spaces of country life, from lying in the warm sun on a spring day to chasing rabbits in our snow covered pasture with his new dog pals Robby and Pepper.
On March 17, 2011 Sebastian suffered a stroke that left him mostly blind in his right eye and extremely weak on his entire right side. We rushed him to the Vet Teaching Hospital at CSU but his condition deteriorated quickly over the next 2 days. We had to make the hardest decision of our lives and say goodbye to our son, brother, and best friend.
Sebastian loved us all with the biggest heart of any being I have ever known. He went almost everywhere with us and hated being apart from us just as much as we hated being apart from him. Sebastian was very healthy and extremely happy for the vast majority of his life and acted like a puppy most days. I think that’s one reason it was so hard to tell him goodbye, he was truly young at heart. 3 days before he passed, he walked 2 miles with me and we ended the day with a spirited game of tug of war.
I could write a book about all the special things Sebastian did that endeared him to us, and maybe I will someday. In many ways, he was our 3rd child and his loss is absolutely heart breaking, but we’re so grateful for the 10 years he blessed our lives.
Sebastian, we love and miss you so much…there are giant holes in our hearts that will take forever to heal without you here. Please know how special you are to our family and that we will never forget you. I love you bubba, see you soon!
Bart, Candy, Morgan, and Ben Pruett
2/7/01-3/19/11