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A Celebration of Opus

19K views 157 replies 72 participants last post by  jealous1 
#1 · (Edited)
Beginning with the last picture …

Three years ago today, May 5 2005 --- this was the last photo that I took of Opus on the last day of her life. It really doesn’t show how sick she was… but that’s a good thing. I much prefer to remember all the joy that she brought into our lives.

She has been on my mind and today I’d like to share my photos and some stories to celebrate her life. So, throughout the day I will continue to add more photos and some stories to this thread.
 

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#2 ·
Love me love my dog.

Opus was a people dog. Other dogs never much interested her. An encounter with a barn cat when she was just a young pup left her with a healthy respect for all cats. And she found young children a little scary too. But of all the people she knew, Jeff was her man.

If you wanted to find Opus you only needed to find Jeff… she was never far away. She adored Jeff. When he went to work – he took the Opus. When we went camping – Opus went with us. When he ran errands – she would go along for the ride. And if he went for a walk or a bike ride – she was by his side every step of the way. And when we were invited to dinner our friends expected Opus too.
 

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#3 ·
Some of our friends thought that Jeff and Opus began to resemble each other like an old married couple,. Well, it’s not true. Opus was much prettier.
 

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#4 ·
No Barking

She was a very quiet dog. On the average she woofed 3-4 times a year. Jeff and I had been dating about two months when were out walking one evening and we came to a children’s playground. All was fine until Jeff and I got on the swings and started flying through the air. Opus had never seen Jeff fly before. She decided this was unnatural and she didn’t like it one bit. For the first time I heard Opus let out a single loud bark. The moment we stopped her tail began wagging like mad. I suppose that all was right with the world once again.

Her preferred method of communication seemed to be telepathy. And she had mastered this quite well. You could be reading, watching television, working at the computer and you would get this sense that Opus wanted something. You would look up and sure enough she would be standing behind you and staring at you. And without a sound she would let you know that she needed fresh water, or wanted a cookie or some playtime, or needed to go out.
 

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#20 ·
#6 ·
What a beautiful old golden girl she was, and loved reading your delightful and loving tribute to an amazing dog called Opus.Thankyou for sharing.
 
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#7 ·
Opus kept her color right on the bridge of her muzzle, and the rest of her face was that noble grey white I can't resist in goldens. I love the old timer's best. I'm a senior gold person even more than a puppy perspn, and I love to look at pictures of Opus.
 
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#22 ·
I have to agree. I hope you will laugh when I tell you my current dilemma. Both Natasha and Bob are so very light gold that I wonder IF will ever be able to recognize when their faces have turned grey.
 
#11 ·
Puppy Days

Like all puppies she started small and quickly grew into a big dog. We have only a few photos from her Puppy days. Standing on the deck surveying her kingdom when she first came to live with Jeff in Pennsylvania, little Miss Opus was only 8 weeks old. . Bounding through the grass with her ears flying. And finally here she is sitting and waiting so patiently, staring up with those big eyes that we grew to love.
 

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#12 ·
Drivin’ Miss Opus

If she noticed the doors to the truck were open Opus would climb in and wait to go. Destination didn’t matter, she was ready.

When the two went on errands she claimed the passenger seat as her own. People would always laugh when they pulled beside the convertible they had been following and discover that the ‘hot blond’ was actually a dog.

When it was the 3 of us, Opus would sit in the rear seat with her nose out the side window. When you are sitting in the passenger seat and in the mirror you see your dog’s nose poking out the back window with that look of satisfaction as they catch the wind…it’s just too funny. Opus liked closing her eyes and letting her upper lip flap in the wind.

And if you didn’t see her reflection in the mirror, then Opus would be resting her head between the driver and passenger seats with her nose at your elbow. Which reminds me… on a long road trip she didn’t rely on telepathy… being nudged with a wet nose in the driver’s armpit was the signal that it was time for a rest stop.

And of course, anytime we left her alone in the car or truck we would always return and find Opus sitting in the driver’s seat.
 

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#13 ·
What a gorgeous old girl. You must have a treasure trove of memories.
 
#18 ·
Years of good sweet happy memories.....
 
#16 ·
Thanks so much for sharing these photos and stories with us Chris. I never get tired of hearing about this beautiful girl. I remember a photo of Opus and an older woman maybe Jeff's mother. That's one of my favorites.

Older woman? That might be me!!!! Or maybe Jeff's mom... I don't seem to have that in my files.
 
#15 ·
Great but simple joys of life

Anytime Jeff would sit or lie down Opus would snuggle up and wait. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would be getting a belly rub and an ear scratch.
 

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#17 ·
This is a loving and great tribute to Opus. She sounds so much like Beau. He has that same telepathy power. These are great pictures and stories that you have shared. I cracked up seeing the picture where their heads are traded and the one of her sticking her head thru the sliding rear window.
 
#57 ·
Play Hard Sweet Girl~Godspeed

It's the end of the day and I just saw your message. Thanks for the nice addition to the photos.
 
#23 ·
Chris,

Some of these I have seen, but most of them I haven't. Thank you so much for sharing Opus with us. She looks like such a sweet beautiful girl. And you are right as handsome as Jeff is, Opus was so much better looking! :D

Love ya

Nancy, Hailey, & Mitch
 
#62 ·
Sometimes it takes time to come to the real understanding..... and that is it is appropriate and right to grieve. But then rejoice and be thankful for having had the opportunity to build all the wonderful memories that make the loss of a lifelong friendship so profound.
 
#25 ·
Life at the marina

When you live aboard and sail you must designate a member of the crew to be in charge of garbage. Opus was our official Waste Management Directory and took her responsibilities very seriously. She inspected every pot and pan and plate and made sure that all leftovers were disposed of properly.

During the time we lived on our boat at the city marina, everyone came to know Opus and would recognize her as we cruised daily from shore to the mooring. Opus acted as though she was the official good will ambassador and she did her best meet and greet everyone who arrived at the VBMM.

Daily she went to the Marina office to retrieve our newspaper from the mailbox,
always hopeful that there would be a dog cookie or two that they could spare.


We never did resolve the problem of her going to the bathroom on long cruises away from land…. So we were never offshore for more then 12 hours at a time. She would hold it… and hold it…and hold it. We tried everything to convince her that it was okay and necessary to take care of business. Forget it… she had it in her mind that the boat was home… and you don’t pee or poop in your own home. So one evening, there I was trudging through the oyster shoals trying to find a plot of dry land so Opus could do her thing. She finally found a spot that was acceptable and came back to the dinghy. She was now covered in aeromatic oyster muck up to her chest. And the new inflatable dinghy, having been punctured by a razor sharp oyster shell, now had an air leak. Needless to say, at that moment, giving her a bath in the dinghy at 11 p.m. before we could get back onto our boat was not my idea of a fun….but looking back it has a memory that makes me laugh again and again.
 

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#26 ·
WOW! What an amazing, beautiful girl and life she led. How lucky that you have a photo journal of so many of her adventures. Thank you so much for sharing her stories. I am fascinated by her name ( love it ). As a musician, I'd love to know the story behind naming her.
 
#27 · (Edited)
WOW! What an amazing, beautiful girl and life she led. How lucky that you have a photo journal of so many of her adventures. Thank you so much for sharing her stories. I am fascinated by her name ( love it ). As a musician, I'd love to know the story behind naming her.
Nothing so lofty as a musical opus. She was named after a penguin in the Bloom county comic strip. Like him she shared an innocent and optimistic view of life.

Opus was originally a gift from Jeff to his girlfriend's adolescent daughter. She picked the name.

When the relationship ended the mother and teenage girl delivered the dog to Jeff to 'watch' until they could get settled. And that was the last he heard from them until almost three years later when out of the blue a letter came in the mail announcing that they wanted 'their' dog.
After three years of them not showing any interest in Opus' well being (not one visit or call or contribution to the expenses of caring for her) Jeff's reply was short and to the point.... No Way.
 
#28 ·
what a wonderful life you gave her.
 
#30 ·
I think we may have it backwards.... it was Opus who gave us the wonderful life.
 
#29 ·
A backpacker's cabin, Grandma's house, a motel room or a tents site. Opus easily adapted to change. Maybe because she lived so many different places in her early years... Pennsylvania, Massachusettes, New York, Texas, California, Georgia.

But it is also my theory that because of those frequent changes she rarely let Jeff out of sight. He was only one constant in her life... Jeff... and although she was rarely on a leash it was always her choice to stay close. And if he did vanish.... she would always return to the truck to wait for him.
 

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#31 ·
i know what you mean, but i always love to see a dog who's had such a full life with their humans.
 
#40 ·
Thanks. Hard to believe that we were turned down as an unsuitable candidate/home for a rescue dog.
 
#32 ·
What a wonderful story and great pictures! Fifty, sixty yeas ago pictures wre rarely taken of family pets. We had on old kodak boxcamera, film and developing weren't cheap to a poor family and pictureswere taken of us kids. But we did get a few pictures of some of our dogs and I treasure them. I don't have apicture of Beauty my first dog, anEnglish setter puppy I got for my 11th birhtday June '56 and she died of distemper in Nov 56. She was beautiful and samrt as could be and I would love to have a true picture of her, not just the one in my head.

Opus was such a beautiful girl and what a grand life she had.
 
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