Our hearts were already heavy after the Super Bowl, but yesterday’s news was almost too much to bear.

At her weekly press conference, Governor Gregoire addressed the untimely death of Washington’s “First Dog,” Franz. Gregoire was visibly heartbroken, sobbing and hardly able to speak. How couldn’t she be?

“The spunky little Pomeranian has a brightly colored bandana for every season and he loves parades almost as much as napping on the couch,” says Franz’s official site.

Franz was a 1996 Valentine’s Day gift from Gregoire and her husband to their two young daughters (“at the time he fit squarely in the palm of their hands”). After moving into the Governor’s Mansion in January 2005, the beloved family pet endeared himself to schoolchildren and other visitors. Said Fred Olson, the governor's deputy chief of staff, "He had the personality that drew you to him, that prance in his step. He worked the crowd and greeted the tour groups to the mansion."

He loved to chase squirrels, but state troopers recently had to rid the mansion grounds of coyotes, raccoons and a possum that posed threats to him. News reports said Franz had his a wine named after him and his own trading cards, but we haven’t found either one online.

Franz was entrusted to family friends in Olympia while the Gregoires were in Detroit for the Super Bowl. On Monday night, as the car was being loaded to return Franz to the Gregoires, Franz darted out of the vehicle and into the street, where he was hit by another car.

In his last official public appearance, Franz wore a “12th Man” bandana.