John Mayer is currently in the depths of grief, mourning the loss of his beloved dog, Moose. The musician shared on an emotional Instagram post that his 14-year-old black lab had passed away on Thursday, December 4th. "We said goodbye to Moose yesterday," Mayer, 48, wrote on Friday, December 5th, accompanied by a carousel of photos that chronicled Moose's journey from a mischievous pup to a seasoned senior with a graying muzzle, often seen playing at their Montana home.
"Moose entered my life when I desperately needed pure love, and that's exactly what he gave me for 14 unforgettable years. Our bond was forged on that love, but also on something I now realize was crucial: routine. For a man like me who left home at 19 and never experienced a day twice, our routine brought a sense of comfort and stability. When dinner was always at 8, and our afternoon walks at 4:30, those rituals became healing balms for my heart. And they did, time and time again."
The guitarist continued, "Today, my heart feels heavy and sore, but there's more love in my life than ever before. And that's because Moose led me to it. It won't be long before I stumble upon an old tennis ball - there must be a hundred hidden under sticks and brush that were too hard to retrieve - and when I do, I'll give it a toss, and think about the dog who accompanied me on my journey to becoming a man. How he was such a good dog, and how there never seemed to be enough time with him. But there was enough love. There's more than enough."
In his younger years, Moose even graced the cover of Mayer's 2013 album Paradise Valley, his sixth release. But once the musician - who adopted the pup while recovering from granuloma surgeries and on months of vocal rest - returned to the road, he found that Moose wasn't a fan of life on tour. "I thought, okay, taking my dog on the road. Dog hates music. Hates it. He thinks it's thunder. So he trembles in the dressing room," Mayer told Bobby Bones in a 2017 interview. "The first night at Red Rocks was the first time we thought, 'Okay well I got a dog - let's do this.' He was cowering in the corner."
Moose wasn't a fan of Mayer's guitar work either, and he made sure to let him know. "When he's home with me, if I pick up a guitar, plug it in and start playing, he does the funniest thing," the musician recalled with a laugh. "He doesn't want to offend me. He slowly slinks his two front paws off the couch and just waddles out of the room." However, it seemed Moose didn't mind a keyboard - especially when there was room left on Mayer's lap. Moose was 14 years old.
