(This) Man's Best Friend

Over 7 years ago, we brought home a little, orange, Bordeaux Mastiff, whom we named The Mighty Titan. Little did I know we would become so close. Over 40 years, we have had numerous dogs in our family. All have been great with the kids, fun to be around, home protectors and cat haters. Just overall wonderful family pets.

But Titan turned out to be so much more. He was inquisitive. Lovable. Friendly, but cautious. And totally focused on a ball. They could be big flashy balls, or small bumpy balls. He didn't care. As long as you tossed them to him a few times a day, he was thrilled. We probably went through close to a couple of hundred of them in the 7 plus years.

But more than anything else, Titan was my friend. He stayed with me almost all day long, hanging out in my office. Listening to constant sales calls, employee complaints, and reprimands. The reprimands sometimes from my good friend and boss. All the while, Titan waited to hear the word, "goodbye". On that cue, he would jump up, stare at Dad with the look of, "you're done with this damn call, time to get the ball." We would then take 5 minutes to go outside, throw the ball around, then back into the office for the next conference call or one of 5,000 emails to be read.

Our house was his castle. He had huge beds strategically placed in most rooms (thanks to brother Jim, who purchased him a bed per visit). You can't be too far from a nap site when you play ball all day long.

Titan always looked forward to weekday mornings when my grandchildren would wake up and get ready for school. He would patiently wait until we gave him the signal or they stirred, then he would run into their bedroom, jump on each one of their beds with his 125lb body, and lick them awake. Even when he was not feeling well the last couple of months, he still showed excitement when they awoke. The girls will sorely miss him, as he them.

Many of you know Titan from Flickr and the Internet. I have had offers from a Japanese television studio to film he and I. I had a National Geographic producer of one of their dog shows contact me to shoot some footage at my house. Titan was painted by 3 different artists over the years, where his paintings were auctioned off for charities. A college student in London used his image in a play. A professional sports team in Europe (who didn't identify themselves) asked to use his image for their team. Other than the paintings, I turned them all down. I did not want to deal with the aggravation, the stress, and the interruption to our lives, and Titan's.

He was a wonderful dog, a major part of my entire family, and a fixture in my son's DigitalCatharsis blog.

Titan left a lasting impression on thousands of people, world wide. But he has left a lasting hole in this man's heart.

He was my best friend.

Bye Dee-Doos.