Drew Thalheimer

I read a thing on the internet one time about how you shouldn’t post your dog’s name online because nefarious types could use that information to kidnap your pup. As such, for the past ten years, anytime I mentioned my little best friend on social media, I referred to him as Younger Jeezy. That’s how people knew him. That’s how people asked me about him. That’s not his real name, though. His real name is Bundger. Or, rather: His real name was Bundger. He passed away peacefully in his sleep last night. He was in his then-favorite bed (a new one I’d bought recently for him and his little sister that he immediately claimed as his own), in a home full of people who loved him, and with a belly full of chicken fajita strips. We should all be so lucky. I’m sure I’ll have more things to say about him after the fog lifts—things about the way he would nuzzle up next to my feet whenever I was writing, or how excited he’d get when you’d ask him if he wanted to go on a car ride, or how anytime Larami would put on a bikini he would go stand by the back door because he knew it meant she was gonna sun bathe—but for now I just want to say: I’m sad that he wasn’t there to greet me when I got home from work today. I will miss him for a very long time. He was the best dog I ever had.