This page is dedicated to Freckles and the memories I have of him.

Born late July 2006, brought home November 3rd 2006, crossed the Rainbow Bridge 12/20/2022 at 11:34am, while resting peacefully in my arms at North Shore Veterinary Hospital.

Freckles days were filled with adventures, treats, snuggles and so much love. He will be deeply missed and I cannot imagine ever having a better companion.

I first met Freckles the day he was born. I don't recall the exact date, only that Shana had finally had her puppies. Shana belonged to Erika’s family, who I was dating at the time, and when I got the call I went over as soon as I was able. Shana had been bred earlier in the spring and now that I am thinking about it, I was there that day too. I’ve known him from conception then? At the time I had no idea the journey that would start for me but how would I. I don’t recall singling out Freckles right away but more general memories of playing with all the puppies outside in the little pen that was set up or helping with feeding time. I do remember being mildly disappointed that all the puppies got their tails docked about a week later.

I think the day that I truly began singling out Freckles from the rest was the day me, Erika and her siblings, Chantel and Tyler, had all the puppies on their trampoline. No jumping was involved, that's just where we had them. That is the memory that I have lodged in my brain for when I was like, yep this one is my favorite. I am not entirely certain, but I believe this was also when he received his name. While I was there, I am not the one who named him, that honor goes to Chantel and Tyler. I think Erika may have prompted Chantel and Tyler to think of names for all the puppies and pretty soon they all had one. Many received new names once they arrived at their forever homes but I think it's obvious to anyone who ever met him, Freckles fit him like a glove. With his big black spots accented by innumerable smaller black and brown spots, he was indeed freckled.

Now that was not the day that I picked Freckles out as my own. Like the indecisive fool I can be, when I was first offered the opportunity to keep Freckles I gave a very non-committal answer. “Sure I would like him but I don't know if it's a good idea, maybe just say that someone is interested in him when you are showing all the puppies.” I just thank God that those first couple of people decided on other puppies. Eventually I was put on the spot, “Are you going to take this puppy or can we sell him, it's getting down to the last couple pups.” I finally actually asked and got the OK from my parents, who I was living with at the time, to bring home a new puppy.

Those first few weeks were tough. I had a cat growing up and she was still alive but cats mostly take care of themselves. This was the first time that I was truly responsible for another creature. That first night, I wanted him to be kennel trained so I put him in his kennel next to my bed. Oh did he cry that first night. No barking but just a long soulful whine/howl. I think I lasted about 10 minutes before I brought him into bed. He immediately crawled under the blankets and sprawled like a little spoon next to me. He would spend the next 16+ years sleeping in that same spot.

Freckles was an absolute champ about potty training and even on his last day would let me know that he needed to go out. That isn't to say that it was smooth sailing at the beginning. One of the memories of me being less than a great pet parent is when, in the middle of the night I am awakened by a warm shower on my face. Oh man I was pissed. I carried him upstairs and unceremoniously underhanded him out the door while I went to get a real shower and change not only my clothes but the bedding as well. I still remember my mom chewing me out for that one too.

Sometime in 2008, I finally moved into my own apartment. My loadlord was someone that I worked with and while normally pets were not really allowed I was able to bring Freckles with me. By this time, I was not going to go anywhere that I could not have Freckles with. He was my dog and I was upfront that Freckles was coming with me wherever I would land. During that time we had a great time living just the two of us. I would take him to the park a ½ block away for a morning walk and then again in the evening and toss a frisbee for I don't even know how long.

Freckles had every ounce of that terrier energy in him, as a pup he would use the couch as a berm to make his turns tighter as he raced around the living room and I was grateful when he outgrew that. His favorite thing to do was playing with the frisbee. Playing fetch with a ball or stick was always a good time but his first love was always the frisbee. I had to get the leash on him before picking up the frisbee because he would go completely bonkers as soon as I touched the frisbee. I would sling that frisbee as far as I could and he would bolt after it until he was way past exhausted. We eventually got good enough that we could go for 20+ throws and the frisbee would never touch the ground. That was always the best part. Toss the frisbee, watch him catch it, and while he didn't always take a straight route back to me, he would always bring it back. Except for that one time he didn’t. I think it was a 90 degree day out and I knew right away that I wouldn't be able to spend that much time outside. It was just too hot but he, having been inside most of the day, was going a little stir crazy, so we headed off to the park. He was excited for the first toss, hesitant for the second, looked at me like I was crazy for the third, and when he caught the fourth toss he literally picked his frisbee up and went home. Just trotted straight off, frisbee in mouth and was waiting for me back at the front door.

The other way that I would exercise him at that time was with my bike. I got this thing that would attach to my seat post and had an adjustable length of cord on a spring. I did a lot more biking while living in Superior and would routinely take freckles on 2-6 mile runs with my bike. Watching him run full out for a mile or more was alway so impressive. Equally impressive was how fast he would decide that it was time to poop on those trips. Running alongside me down Winter Street at about 10 mph and he just assumed the position. I look back at those days and wonder if I was doing the right thing, sometimes dragging him by the harness an extra 5 feet as he tried to poop in the middle of an intersection but also remember how excited he was when I pulled out the harness because he knew that meant he could Run! Run! Run!

Once Sam and I moved to Cloquet, I stopped biking with him. Instead we would take him on longer walks than I did in Superior. We had our most common “Park Loop” that was almost exactly one mile, there was the “Library Loop” that was just over 2 miles, and the “River Loop” that we could easily extend past 2.5 miles. During the summers we would also take him to Ely’s Peak, Jay Cooke and other hiking trails.

Camping with Freckles is something that I did a handful of times, but only a handful because he was a handful. There was the time I took him to Wisconsin Point for the night between the crashing waves of Lake Superior and whatever critters were moving in the tree’s, well he had other things to do besides sleep in a tent. Then there was the time Sam and I brought him camping at a state park. Well, he wanted to go visiting so again trying to keep him inside the tent was next to impossible. Even when we brought his kennel to have in the tent with us for the night he would just whine cause he wanted to be snuggled with us.

One activity that Freckles loved but didn’t take him to do as often as he would have liked is swimming. Freckles absolutely loved water. Any opportunity to swim was one he was going to take. The problem was you really had to have eyes on him at all times around any body of water. There was one time that Sam and I let him go off leash for a bit down by Dunlap park in Cloquet. No one else was around and he was really interested in the water so we figured we would let him burn off a little extra energy off leash. I am much better about my on-leashedness these days, but I was younger and dumber. Anyway, he went straight to the water. Now there is some brush along the St. Louis River in this area as well as on an old railroad bridge supported by large concrete pilings, and we kinda lost track of him for a second. It hadn’t been long and he was always good about coming when called, so we started calling for him. We are scanning the edge of the brush waiting to see him bursting out like he would when we both notice something coming out from the 3 piling down. Sure enough, there’s our boy merrily swimming his way back to us from halfway across the river.

Freckles seemed to have a deep desire to see what was on the other side of any body of water, and it didn't seem to matter how large. Another time I was swimming with him in Lake Superior along Wisconsin Point, so was never more than 10 or so feet from him if he ever started to have trouble. Well I just let him go to see what he would do. Once I started to worry he might not have the energy to get back I started to recall him. He would turn around and start back towards me while I was calling his name but as soon as I stopped the little nut turned right around and started back across Lake Superior. I did this 3 more times before I just picked him out of the water and walked back to shore. Not because he appeared to be having any trouble, but because I got tired of that game. He did sleep well that night.

The last swimming memory I have to share is the time I brought him to a friend's cabin on a small lake. There was a nice little dock and I wanted to see what kind of dock jumping champion he could be. We had found some sticks that he was having a great time playing fetch with and I knew he loved playing fetch in the water too. So I got him lined up so the shortest path would be off the end of the dock. Now I am fairly certain that as that first throw hit the water, he was off at top speed down the dock and into the water just like I had hoped. That second toss started just like the first, until he reached the last 2 or three planks. For a dog that loves water, fetch, and jumping I guess he decided that this wasn't something he wanted to do again. Unfortunately for him, he had already built up too much momentum. It sounded like someone dropped a 15 pound rock in the water as he tipped over the edge. He sorted himself out and still retrieved the stick but would run back to shore instead of taking the shorter route off the dock from then on.

For a dog with so much energy Freckles was rarely destructive. He loved to chew on the chew toys I got him and went through plenty of rawhides and nylabones but would be ever so gentle with his plush toys. His rings where by far his favorite and are feature in many of his puppy pictures, I still have them today. I still remember one time I was washing his things and he sat in the basement watching the washing machine, then the dryer. When the dryer finally ended, I opened the door so he could see what was in there. He reached in and pull exactly one out before heading to find a safe place to put it. He was always so proud of his plush toys too. Anytime someone would stop by, he would run around until he found the exact toy he wanted and only then go great them, toy in mouth. Sam and I would routinely have to explain to people that, no he does not want to play fetch or tug-of-war, he only wants to show you his squirrel, duck, or rings.

Freckles loved to wear clothes, I think it is the terrier in him that also loved to burrow. I had several velcro jackets that he would wear outside in the cold and his favorite hoodie that he would wear everywhere. I think some of my favorite pictures of him are when he has his little hoodie on. I don't think he ever actually needed them but he would get so excited and was more trouble when I would take them off than when I would put them on. The only item that he was not a fan of were the dog booties we got for him. I so wish I could find the video of him that very first time we put booties on him, high stepping and kicking to get the weird things off his feet. Once he got outside he settled right into them but he had such spindly feet that they would slip right off. We tried a few different times and it seemed like he would lose at least one every time he was playing in the deep snow he loved so much.

Freckles was not a thick coated winter dog, but you would have never guessed it by his love of deep snow. He took to the snow almost as fast as he took to water. He would insist on walking on the snow banks left by the plow and playing parkour across all the chunks and gaps left. When he found a stretch of powder, he would bury his head and just start running. The look of pure joy on his face when he finally looked up, you could tell this he was in his element. And when I combined his love of snow and frisbee, it was an absolute hoot to watch him bobbing around in the snow, face covered in the stuff.

I think Freckles always enjoyed the company of other animals. He always got along well with whatever other animals he lived with, whether it was overnight or for many years. His longest term feline compatriot was Joise. Joise always enjoyed her space and preferred to watch from atop her castle, so it was always a special moment when you would catch them both sharing a sunbeam.

I was always Freckles person. He would behave and listen to others, but I was always his number one. I’d be away hunting for a week and hear how Freckles was depressed. “Yeah, he doesn't want to come out of his kennel and when he sees its me just plops back down in his kennel”, “He didn’t come to bed, just stayed in his kennel waiting for you to get back from hockey”. I heard these same stories so many times and from both Sam and my parents. I think my favorite “You are not Dad” story I have about him is from the time I was living alone in Superior and the apartment I was living in needed some extra maintenance. Now I have alway put Freckles in his kennel when I would be away for more than a few minutes. He was normally pretty good about it, he would typically see me packing my lunch and go into his kennel to wait, but ever so often he would start to howl. This was usually because I forgot something and now he was concerned that I opened the front door and didn't let him out. So anyway, when I got home from work that day the guy was still putting on some finishing touches. He tells me that my dog scared him that day. I’m thinking, oh no he’s been howling or whining all day with this guy here working, but nope. The guy got spooked because after being in the apartment for over an hour by himself, he heard something sigh right behind him. It was not a ghost, just Freckles hanging out in his kennel watching. Not great guard dog instinct on display, but as soon as I was home he was begging to be let out. Freckles would have been about 3, so I was still learning just how smart Freckles really was. That was the first time it really hit me with just how smart he was. That he knew who I and what I meant as opposed to just anyone that might let him out of his kennel.

Freckles aged so gracefully. They say that old pets are the sweetest and Freckles was the sweetest old man dog. I got so many years of chill Freckles that it's sometimes hard to remember the endless energy of his youth. While I didn't get to play tug-of-war or throw the frisbee for an hour straight, those hours were exchanged for hours of snuggles on the couch. Walks no longer included a swim, and rugs to cover the slippery hardwood found their way into our home. Steps at the foot of the bed just for Freckles and later night-time “flights'' into bed became the norm. He would still have his bursts of energy, even on his last regular vet check up on March 16th of 2022, the vet commented on how active he was and how if his chart did not list his age he would have guessed 5. Now at home we could see how he had slowed down and how much more white his muzzle had gotten but to the outsider he was a vibrant young pup. Now, I had shared some of my concerns with him slowing down and if there was anything I should be looking for as he was 15. I was told that based on what the vet saw that day, Freckles would be on the go right up to day he wasn’t. This was absolutely true. On December 17th 2022, Freckles started the day by jumping off the bed before I was ready to get up, taking forever snooting around the snow for the perfect place to pee, and looking at all the places I didn't want him getting into at the farm I was house-sitting at. That's how he spent his last able bodied hours, getting into things in true terrier form. Before he was curled up in front of the fireplace, he was trotting down the driveway to see what was there, me chasing after him in my sweatpants, hoodie and slippers.