Ellis

July 21st, 1991 - Feb 22nd, 2007

This page is for Ellis, the one-of-a-kind most loyal best friend anyone could ever have. No words, photos or videos could do justice to the joy that Ellis has brought us over the years. We will never forget him. (photo taken September. 2nd , 2006 in Rifle Colorado. Ellis was over 15 years old in this photo)

Ellis Slideshow

February 22nd, 2007 - saying goodbye to the Chocolate Brown Wonder Man - Ellis

Ellis suffered what appeared to be a stroke while I was out with him in the BD parking lot today at lunch. I started to panic, was freaking out, and called Ellen. I rushed him as quickly as I could to the vet, petting his head while I was driving asking him to hang on until Ellen got there. I carried him in where Ellen eventually met me. We layed on the floor with him just crying and petting him and telling him that we loved him and that he was the best brown boy ever. The vet was great, did some tests and explained the options. I had spent many hours over the last two years laying with Ellis and asking him to give me "a sign" to let me know when he was ready - and it was obvious that this was it. Ellen and I asked for some time alone with Ellis, and made the tough heart-wrenching decision to have him put to sleep. We were both with him, crying, holding him, petting him and telling him that we loved him and how great of a dog he has been, and that he would be happy now that he would be reunited with Yukon and have endless rocks to pick out of crystal clear rivers. We held him close as he took his last breath. It was like a piece of my heart left with him.

We layed with him for a while, just crying, petting him and talking to him - eventually we had to take the next step. We wanted to ensure that we had the same memorial services as we did with Yukon so we had to take Ellis across town to a different Vet - that was really tough. We took him inside and layed with him some more and cried and told him how much he meant to us, how much we loved him, and how much we will think of him and miss him every day. Eventually we said our final goodbyes and left our brown man forever. It was brutal.

Obviously we knew this was coming - but it certainly didn't make it any easier.

 

One of the first pictures I have of Ellis (September 14th, 1991)

The last picture of Ellis (February 19th, 2007)

"me and the Brown" (the early years)

I have a zillion photos of me and Ellis - here are some.

Ellis and I used to spend a lot of time on the road - and that meant crashing on people's couches.

"The Boys"

Ellis was 3 1/2 when I decided that getting him a yellow "brother" may be a good idea. I picked up Yukon on a Tuesday. Ellis was excited to see a little puppy. The next day Ellis wasn't sure what the puppy was still doing hanging around. By the third day Ellis' nose was a bit out of joint. By about the 4th day Ellis realized Yukon was here to stay and "the boys" were inseparable ever since. (see all photos of the boys together)

The Family

Here are some 'family pictures' - more here

note - after Yukon died, I never took another picture of 'the family' as I felt we were now incomplete.

Ellen & Ellis

Ellen loved Ellis & Yukon so much - and they loved her back. I always joked that they boys actually loved Ellen more than me. Here are a few shots of Ellen & Ellis together

Kolin & Ellis - even more

Swimming

Ellis loved swimming but more particularly diving for rocks more than anything. He truly was unbelievable. The funny thing is he wouldn't even go into the water until he was almost a year old. Then once he realized he liked it - we couldn't keep him out. He would dive for rocks as long as someone would throw them - he would just look back at you with this amazing face - waiting for you to throw one - and even once you stopped he would just continue on his own. I'm sure he felt like it was his job - to get all the rocks out of the river. I have literally hundreds of photos of Ellis getting rocks - here are a few.

Here are some videos of the amazing Ellis in action:

Ellis diving for rocks - at 10 years old

Ellis' 13th birthday - diving

Ellis' 14th birthday - diving for rocks

Ellis loves swimming - almost 15 years old

Thoughts & Memories of Ellis

As with Yukon, I made a list of general thoughts within a few days of Ellis' death. I wanted to write down a bunch of things while they were fresh in my mind so that I would always remember the beautiful brown man, what I wanted to remember, what made me laugh, funny moments, and what I would miss about him. This really is quite personal and mainly for me. (thoughts & memories of Ellis)

Ellis Memorial Tree

Friends had planted a tree in honor of Yuki after his death - and we of course wanted to do the same for Ellis - so we could remember both of the boys forever. Always together, now their memorial trees stand side by side also. See here for Ellis' Memorial Tree & Plaque.

Go here for Yuki's Memorial Tree.

Ellis Book

I was so happy with Yukon's book that of course I had to make one for Ellis. With over 1100 photos it was very challenging to narrow it down to something reasonable. With over 300 pages of photos and stories, it is a great way for me to remember my beautiful brown boy. After hundreds of hours of emotional work, the book was complete and unfortunatley the file was corrupt and I had to start over. I don't think the second version is as good as the original, but it can be seen here.

Ellis & Yukon Together Again

The boys are now together again with Ellis diving for rocks and Yukon being used as a pillow. You can see Yukon's Memorial Page here.

Media - with approximately 1179 photos of Ellis and countless hours of video footage - this was tough