Denver’s Early Retirement

Greenville, South Carolina → Canada — February 2026

One of the decisions nobody warns you about when you decide to travel long-term with your family is what to do with your dog.

Denver came into our lives about ten years ago, during one of the hardest seasons we’ve been through. We had just moved to Greenville. Chris was starting a business from scratch. Courtney was in her first year of residency, working ungodly hours. The stress was high and the energy in our house was very, very low.

Then one day Courtney came home and said, “I either need to go on antidepressants or we need to get a puppy.”

Later that day, we were at the Humane Society. Within a couple of days, we found our little mutt and named him Denver — after Colorado, after a trip we’d just taken, after something that just felt right.

He was our first kid. He was there for everything — the ups, the downs, the wins, the losses, all of it. But with every boy that came along, Denver moved a little further down the pecking order. First to second. Second to third. Now, with four boys? Dead last. Poor guy.

With nine months of travel ahead of us, we had to figure out what to do with him. Giving him away was never an option. Long-term boarding didn’t feel right for a ten-year-old dog — even one who still acts like a puppy.

Then Courtney’s mom stepped in. She’s a dog person through and through. Her own dog had passed away about six months earlier, and she already knew and loved Denver from her visits. She wanted an older dog, a companion, someone to walk with. It was a natural fit.

So on Super Bowl Sunday, Chris’s parents drove halfway across the country to West Virginia. Courtney’s mom drove down from Canada. They met in the middle, spent a night together at a hotel, and did the Denver handoff. In-laws hanging out over a dog swap — you can’t make this stuff up.

Now Denver has gone from South Carolina heat to Canadian cold. Three walks a day. Sleeping on the couch. Sleeping on the bed. Treats on demand. Number one priority in the house again.

Will he come back to us someday? Maybe. Probably not. We’ll see him plenty — we’ll be spending a lot of time in Canada too. But the truth is, he’s living a better life right now than we could give him this year. And that’s what matters.

Not every part of this adventure is fun. Sometimes doing the right thing for your family means letting go of something you love. But if you’re lucky, letting go just means they end up spoiled rotten by grandma.