Pour One Out For Eclipse The Black Lab, Who Would Ride The Bus Solo To The Dog Park, As She Sadly Passed Away This Weekend At Age 10
Q13Fox - A Seattle-area dog who shot to national viral fame for riding King County Metro buses by herself has died at the age of 10. Eclipse, the half Mastiff, half black lab, gained notoriety for taking herself to the dog park on the bus. Her owner, Jeff Young, said that he used to take her to the Belltown dog park daily via bus. One day, he wasn't paying attention and she got antsy, so she got herself on the bus and got off at the dog park.
It took Young a while to figure out where she went, but he was able to track her down to the dog park. Then, she continued doing it herself! It wasn't before long that Eclipse gained national attention-- she even ended up in Ripley's Believe It Or Not! 100 Years book. She even has a book written about herself called "Dog on Board: The True Story of Eclipse, the Bus-Riding Dog" that came out in October of 2016.
On Oct. 12 of this year, Eclipse's Facebook page, run by Young, announced that Eclipse had been diagnosed with cancerous tumors. Two days later, on Oct. 14, Young announced that Eclipse had died in her sleep at 7 a.m.
I became aware of this awesome pup back in 2015 when blogger turned videogame character Trent used to write.
I remembered thinking her owners were dirtbags for letting her roam the streets of a big city by herself but after watching video of her in action, it was pretty apparent this wasn't your normal black lab. She was smart as fuck. Smarter than most humans I know.
All dogs love the dog park. The infinite amount of other dogs to play with, smell the asses of, and get pets from their owners is unmatched. I'm sure if all dogs were smart enough to take themselves to and from the park via public transportation, the parks would be overflowing with dogs.
Eclipse was so beloved and well known around town that everywhere she'd go people would open doors for her, or help her with things that those with no opposable thumbs aren't capable of.
She shot to national fame for her antics, even appearing in a music video.
And she cruelly was diagnosed with cancer a couple weeks ago.
I guess her owners and fans can take solace in the fact she didn't suffer for long. And she passed in her sleep.
All dogs die too young. But 10 is especially early for a good girl like Eclipse.
R.I.P. babe.
Just another reminder that we don't deserve dogs.