Bone Thugs

We took a trip south of the border to see Bone Thugs and Harmony performing in Fargo, ND on some Friday night back in the summer of 2003. Why? Why not! The next day we ended up in Grand Forks to participate in a car show with our crew of lowriders, minitruckers and import enthusiast friends. We had some time on our hands before the show, so we headed down to the mall. We ended up at the pet store. I know, I know... pet stores are bad because they have a reputation of buying puppies from puppy mills. That was neither here nor there, they had dogs for sale and one dog in particular captured my heart. I knew in the back of my mind that purchasing a pet at the spur of the moment was probably not one of my best ideas, but I assured myself I had it all figured out. Late Saturday night after an eventful day we were back in Winnipeg and I had my new dog "Chloe" with me.

Chloe spent her first few months living with me in Weston and hanging out at my store front down the street. She quickly became our shop mascot and continued to attend car shows with us. We even took her on a road trip to Edmonton with the crew. A few month's later circumstances changed and as so many pet owners learn quickly; whether it's landlords, roommates or life partners, pet's don't always work in all scenarios.

I found myself in a situation where I needed a quick remedy to a situation where Chloe was not welcome. My sister and brother-in-law agreed to dog-sit for a few days, up to a week. Over the past nine years she had often joked about the time I dropped of Chloe for a week and never returned, even though it didn't go down quite like that.

Just as Chloe had captured my own heart, after spending a week with my sister and brother-in-law and captured their hearts as well. My sister was right when she explained to me that Chloe was better off in their living environment then she was mine. I didn't argue with her as she was right. They took over the responsibility of being Chloe's caregivers which was no small undertaking, because despite her size, she could be a handful of trouble and then some.

This past New Year's eve, my sister contacted me to inform me that Chloe had passed.

R.I.P. Chloe, you will be missed!