Gilligan Olaf Baum

In April, we bought a house.  So it just seemed appropriate that we would then get a family dog so we could be a real American family.  Now most of you who know me, are aware that I'm not much of an indoor pet person.  I hate having animal hair on my clothes, I despise the animal smell.  But, most of you know that I am a sucker for English Bulldogs though.  I was dropping my kids off at my Sister in Law, Melissa's house when we pulled up to find her at her neighbors house with puppies out front. 

  

We found this little guy there.  The breeder had named him Gilligan.  I was instantly sold.  I never, in a million years, would spend so much money on an animal, but just look at that face!  I couldn't help myself! 

 We bought him and named him Gilligan Olaf Baum.  The kids couldn't decide between Gilligan and Olaf so we settled on having Olaf as a middle name. 

 The kids were in love from the beginning.  He was just so stinking adorable.  This was Daniel's dream come true.  He has wanted a dog since the day I met him.  There was just no way we could until we had our own home.

 Look at that face!  He just grew up so fast.  We weren't sure what to expect from the whole puppy stage.  I'll be honest, it was a little rough, but worth it.  I can say that now, but when he chewed up the corners of my coffee table, I wasn't singing the same tune.

But we made it through.  We had the best veterinarian ever.  Dr Mike Clayton in Midvale.  He loved Gilly as much as we did.  We trusted him with what was best for Gilligan and our family and ended up getting him fixed so he'd be a better family pet, instead of breeding him which we thought we wanted to do.  Dr. Clayton is awesome so if anyone in Utah needs the best veterinarian ever, call me and I'll give you his number.

 Gilly had lots of wrinkles and big cheeks and lots of times, his cheeks would get caught in his teeth, so he'd look at you and you'd think he was going to eat you, but really he just wanted a snuggle.  Most of the time his tongue would hang out too. 

 

When we were training Gilligan, he went through a biting phase, which I'm sure all puppies go through while they are losing their baby teeth.  But after we got him fixed, he turned into a big teddy bear. No biting.  Instead, he'd just lick your face to death.

 We loved our Gilligan so much.  All our hard work with him had payed off.

Sadly, 2 weeks ago, our Gilligan was chewing on an old camp chair in the backyard and got the fabric wrapped around his lower jaw and the metal armrest stuck under his collar.

We were absolutely devastated.  It was such a sad day.  We all sat next to him for quite a while, just crying.  A neighbor friend came over and helped Daniel dig a grave.  The kids and I all wrote a letter to him and read it before we said a prayer. 

This picture was taken the day before he died.  Every time I look at it, I tear up a bit.  He had become such a good dog, and really was a part of our family.  It was just so tragic and unexpected.  Even now, the kids talk about him.  Ava still prays for Gilligan to be good in Heaven.  The Hogle Zoo in SLC had an orangutan that died the week before Gilly, his name was Eli.  Colson keeps telling me that Gilly can see Eli in heaven now. 

I think out of everyone in our family, I'm taking the loss of Gilligan the hardest.  I still find myself crying over it and it's been a while now.  I never thought I would be that person who went to pieces over an animal.  I honestly felt like a family member had died.  I miss his face every day and wish I could go back and change things.  In my mind, I always pictured Gilly being in our family for years and years.  I always saw him with us when my kids were graduating from high school. 

We love you Gilligan and miss you like crazy!