This is the hardest post I’ve ever had to write.
Last week, we said goodbye to our beloved pup Yukon, who died in his sleep due to complications from valley fever and congestive heart failure.
Yukon was surrendered to Ryan (and, therefore, me as well) in early 2021. We immediately fell in love with this sassy, stubborn fluff ball, and he integrated himself into every single aspect of our lives.
He was the center of our world.
Yukon was a regular at our favorite dog-friendly bar, Hops on Birch, which is also where Ryan and I had our first date and discussed our love of dogs and desire to get one.
He came with us the last two years to get our Christmas tree — first down in Happy Jack, and then out near Williams — and was the star of our annual holiday card photos.
He was the best adventure pup!
He came along with us on so many adventures — from backpacking the Lake Mead Recreation Area and the Superstition Mountains to camping in Sedona and Flagstaff, and even traveling out to southwest Colorado.
He loved being outside no matter what the weather was. We took him on lots of snowy and sunny walks around two of his favorite places: Buffalo Park and McMillian Mesa.
Yukon was such a stereotypical husky with a big, big personality.
He loved destroying his squeaky toys — especially the blue marine life ones. His favorite toy was his stuffed shark, but his sting ray, narwhal, squirrel and dill pickle toys were also loved.
He loved eating vegetables and, oddly, wearing his cone. It let him easily carry his toys around our entire apartment for easy access.
His favorite spot in our apartment was the chaise lounge on our couch, and he would get incredibly offended if anyone dared to sit there.
He also loved the end of our couch closest to our window, so he could peer outside and watch the deer congregate at the base of the mountains across the street from our front porch.
He loved car rides, even though he hated windows and would rather rest his chin on the center console between me and Ryan.
He was also such a friendly pup and always said hi to other dogs.
He loved people, too, and would always greet friends (everyone was a friend) with jumps, hugs, kisses and a small tornado of undercoat floof. He loved attention, and getting pets from humans was one of his favorite things. He was also so great with kids!
He was the biggest derp, and always had his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, and was always tripping over rocks and his own four paws.
He loved to rest his snoot on things — like chair legs, door frames and furniture — and somehow found that anything could make a comfortable pillow if you tried hard enough.
He loved to get in everyone’s way — laying across door frames and hallways was one of his favorite past times.
He was afraid of exercise balls, large boxes (especially if they were empty), furniture that moved too fast, large bodies of water and vacuums.
He was also a big drama queen and was so vocal! He loved to talk back, howl, grumble and heavily sigh if he wasn’t getting his way.
I’m devastated I didn’t get to say goodbye since I was out of town for work when we lost him. We knew that the valley fever and subsequent congestive heart failure — which he was diagnosed with about two years ago — would shorten his lifespan, but we thought we had longer than the three years we had with him.
His death was so, so sudden. I’m grateful he was home and comfy in our bed with Ryan when he crossed the rainbow bridge, and I’m glad Ryan made his last few days so good for him.
We had a massive snowstorm up in Flag during his last week with us, and Ryan built him a little igloo in our side yard, and took him skijoring.
Ryan also brought Yukon down to visit me on my work trip in Glendale, where we brought him to brunch and dinner with us, and took him on a hike through the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.
We’ve been following along with news of the new valley fever vaccine. It would have given us so much more time with Yukon if it had existed three years ago when we first got him. Three years with Yukon was nowhere close to enough.
Please consider donating to a valley fever vaccine research fund in honor of our beloved Yukon, if you’re able.
If you have a fur baby, please give it so much extra love this weekend. We would do anything to spend more time with our bubbers.
Ryan and I will miss Yukon so, so much. I can’t imagine I’ll ever get over his death. He was the best boy, ever, and we will never, ever forget him.
