A Dog’s Life

Working because he’d rather retrieve than eat.

Retirement.  He still thinks he’s a pup but if you let him work too hard he limps around worse than I do.  His expression says it all – if you look in his eyes the fire is still there.  Crash came by his name honestly.  He runs straight and hard no matter what might be in the way.  Before he was even weaned he would slam into things seemingly for the thrill that was in it.

In human terms, Crash is 70 and still going strong.  I hope I’m still agile and mobile when I get there!

There is no hidden meaning behind this post, the old man isn’t ailing and, God willing, he’ll be around for a few more seasons even though his hunts are limited to easy ones in moderate temps.  I just turned the camera on the dogs this morning out of habit and when I sat down at the computer to process the images the age in his face struck me.  The picture of the two-year old pup obediently holding the duck is framed on the wall above my desk so the contrast between the two images was immediate.  Every time I go out the back door he’s there begging for a simple scratch under the chin and I always oblige but sometimes I complain – he’s so persistent.

Even so, he doesn’t ask for much.  It’s such a nice afternoon and I’ve got some errands to run.  I think I’ll take the old guy along.  In his opinion the only thing better than a ride is one that ends at some backwater boat launch in the early hours while the rest of the world sleeps.

It’s an odd relationship that we share with our canine partners.  We invite them into our lives and our hearts knowing even as we do so that it is almost a certainty that we will outlive them.  Unconditional love in return for the occasional missing shoe isn’t a bad deal.