In memoriam: Bubblegum (200?-2021)
Posted Thursday, February 11, 2021
We lost a very good boy today: Bubblegum passed away due this afternoon after experiencing heart problems, but essentially, of old age.
Bubblegum was a pit bull adopted in 2014, a few days before I began teaching at the University of Texas. We don't know much about his life before then except that it was rough. He had bullet wounds and broken teeth when he was rescued from a kill shelter in Bastrop. (Shout out to Austin Dog Rescue for taking him in!)
He quickly adapted to a more pampered life and reveled in getting as much affection as possible. Everyone who met him got to witness this: he frequently head-butted his way into head rubs and wasn't shy about nestling his entire 70-pound self into new friends' laps. And, of course, his patented move was circling in front of someone while whipping his tail furiously, a maneuveur I came to call the "waggin' wheel." He wagged that tail every day, up unti the very end.
We're going to miss you, buddy. RIP.