"Stairway to Heaven"
Bandit Boogie Murphy
December 10, 1981~~June 11, 1996
On February 10, 1982, we adopted Bandit when he was just about 8 wks. old. I went to this very run down shelter and found this wee little black pup hiding under the kitties cages way back under the desk, it was so dark in that room and from where he was hiding I almost didn't see him at first. His little eyes peeked out and that was all it took. His mother was found after giving birth to this litter out in the woods in the middle of a snowy cold winter. She was there at the shelter too, she was a yellow lab, and she was very thin. Bandit was the only all black lab, the others were multi colored with brown, white, black. Don't know who the father was. He had a broken tail that identified him for the rest of his life. They told us he was either born that way or had broken it shortly after he was born. Bob didn't know I was bringing a dog home that February day, we had talked about a puppy but his decision was to wait a little longer. Well he took one look at Bandit and they were the best of friends till the day he passed away. It still brings Bob to tears just thinking about losing his "bestest buddy", that's what he always called him.
We chose the name Bandit because we were really into southern rock music at the time and it just seemed to fit him. He also loved to wear bandana's. :o) We chose Boogie because I saw a movie called "The Night the Lights went out in Georgia", starring Dennis Quaid and Kristy McNichol. They had this little scruffy dog named Boogie and I just thought the name was so cute. The Murphy name kind of speaks for itself if you've ever been owned by a labrador, you know...Murphy's Law? ~VBG~
He was such a joy to us, we took him everywhere. The only time we ever spent time apart, aside from when he got sick in the end and needed round the clock medical care, was when Bob and I went to Carmel, California on vacation. It was actually our honeymoon even though we didn't take it until 10 yrs. into our marriage. Bandit stayed at my parents house and they loved having him. When I spoke to my mother on the phone she asked me why Bandit wouldn't come up on the bed and snuggle with them. I told her she needed to pat the bed with her hand while saying the word, "up". It worked, up he went! I told her he had very good manners and wouldn't go on furniture unless he was invited. :o) We missed him something terrible while we were gone and vowed then and there that we would NEVER take another trip without him.
Less than a year later we decided to move to Carmel and instead of flying with Bandit stuck in the baggage area of the airplane, we drove across country, some 3 thousand miles. It was a great experience. We stopped every night and he even got his own bed at times, but mostly we all cuddled up together, it was what we were used to...Bandit snuggled in between us like a sandwich. *G*
**be sure to stop back soon, this story is not finished**
If you would like to read more about Bandit, please visit
Memorial
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His Poem
This page last updated~December 11, 2005