Known around here as Joey Joe Joe Shabadoo, he died Thanksgiving week after a six month fight with Acute Chronic Hepatitis (who even knew a dog could get hepatitis?). Joe was a beautiful, sweet happy-go-lucky dog who loved nothing more than to snuggle.

As adorable as he was when we brought him home, he made us all nuts when he was a puppy (especially Fred who was entirely put out by Joe’s arrival and stayed mostly put out for the next five years) and he suffered greatly by comparison to his big brother. But he eventually figured out the whole house training thing, and he was absolutely adoring when Emily came along just a few months later, and before too long we had fallen head over heels for him.

Both in looks and in personality, Fred was our velvet smoking jacket and cognac dog. Joe, more of a dirty overalls and Bud dog. He was a handsome dog who occasionally managed to pull off looking as noble as big brother Fred.

But not often, and most usually not.

At all.

Which is, of course, one of the many reasons we loved him so much.

As one of our friends put it, he was a completely fucking awesome dog. We miss him terribly.