the beginning ....
the ending ....
and now ... some of his never ending stories ...
atreyu loved almost all things ... one of his biggest loves ...the car ... especially working his way up to the front seat ... on my lap ... but only after he has flapped his ears in the wind for a while ... 
one of my happiest times was watching him on his last day ... barely able to stand & blind ... get himself up & out his window for 2 seconds of ear flapping ... not only once ... but twice ... he knew it needed to be done ... & i was so happy he did it .... part of his peaceful never ending-ness ....
which somehow reminds me of the time he suddenly jumped out the window as we were driving down the road!! after seeing him roll a few times in our mirrors ... he got up & started running!! we were so scared ... and obviously he was too ... because we found him shaking .. on our front porch ... & now brown ... yup, he scared himself that bad & ran all the way home .... he never did that again ... nor did he eat a pack of my birth control pills again, or get himself stuck in a culvert again, get hit by a car again, or a motorcycle again ... those are just some of his 'he's freekin lucky stories' ...
one thing he did do more than once, though ... was sniffing his tricky little friend ... the porcupine ... he did that twice ....
in our eyes, some of his most impressive days ... were hiking days ... days where he would hike up to 14 miles in a day with us ... climbing rocks & rock faces - sometimes needing a little help ... but he did it all ... and was so so so happy & content .... always such a good boy ...
south twin ...
resting along passaconaway ...
I like to think in his eyes .... 2 shining moments stick out among his collection of memoires ...
the first being the day he brought home a turkey egg ... unharmed ... un-cracked ... held sooooo gently in his mouth while he cried ... cried in that way he did when he was given a bone ... the cry of sheer joy & excitement ... he put it down at our feet ever so gently ... we couldn't believe our eyes!!
the other moment that is beyond memorable is when a little chickadee slammed into our window ... and knocked himself out cold ... we came out of the house to find atreyu investigating & sniffing ... & proceeded to scoop the tiny bird up in his mouth!! I was mortified & started yelling at him as he went running around the yard ... but sure enough ... as he circled back around by the porch he opened his mouth & the chickadee flew right out .... a moment that I think i will remember just like yesterday ... always!
i'm sure those 2 stories rank right up there with all the stories that only he knows ... the times he brought home a bobcat skull ... a deer leg ... a moose vertebrae ... an antler ... a beaver carcass ... among many other disgusting treats. he must of been so excited when we brought home kiwi ... his sister ... with a hound nose ... it made his scavenger adventures easier ...
he also took great pride in his jobs .....
coming to pick josie up at school ...
accompanying me on my morning runs down to the pond ... which was a double score for him ... running & a swim ...
and watching out for this lil girl ... & us ... and his friends ....
and of course wearing his blaze orange ... pretending ...
atreyu was a brittany ... who sneezed constantly! he could sneeze on command ... it was his tool for our attention getting ... he was our loyal brittany that howled by our apple tree. thank goodness his old brother randy taught him how to howl ... it saved his life when he got lost in the woods in his last weeks ... it was the way he was able to be found ... to this day, I still believe that atreyu & randy would practice their howling together in the bedroom just to drives this house a little crazy .... atreyu was our loyal, sneezy, howly, nervous eater, adventurous, gun lovin', I know you are wearing your running sneakers which means you are going for a run even though you tell me your not ... man's, woman's & girl's best friend ... he was the kind of pup that would make you feel extremely lucky if you could get close enough to him to sneak in a tiny pet ... he'd always keep just enough distance ... except for his immediate circle of people of course ....
kiwi & atreyu morning snuggles ...
being the 'bird dog' that he was ... the first day we brought him home he was already pointing at chickadees ... not only adorable ... but come on - it was amazin! ... but very soon there after he met one of his life time best buddies ...wiley .. a little cairen terrier ... and soon he was hunting chipmunks & burrowing with his best friend ... and never looked back ... what started out with just two friends turned into a pack of 5 - 7 neighborhood pups throughout the years ... they saw each other daily ... they even made their own trail through the woods ... no leashes ... collars were rare ... a true dog's life! I believe they miss him ... I know his sister kiwi does ... and we really do ...
oh what a good never ending friend he was ...
Josie's work of art in the washing machine ... impressive.