Goodbye Smokey

We just finished packing our truck for a trip to our Northern California Ranch when I noticed a dog slithering through our hedge. He was skin and bones and stood shivering on the edge of our yard. "Come here boy," I quietly called. He inched forward a foot or two with his tummy flat on the ground. I squatted down and earnestly called again. This time he came within a few feet of me, still hunkered down with his tail between his legs. I could see fear in his eyes, but there was HOPE shining out as well. I reached forward with my hand and briefly touched him. His tail wagged and he crawled up to me. I rubbed him some more. I stood up and asked him to come with me. And he did. My husband saw the steely look in my eye when I told him this dog was ours. It was a gut feeling. We loaded him into our already overloaded truck and took off for the north country.

That was about 7 years ago now and Smokey showed us what it means to be faithful and loyal. He really was our shadow and followed us quietly wherever we were going. In the beginning he would never look us in the eye and if he heard a loud voice or saw a arm raised he would squat down and run for cover. It took about a year for him to not to run and another year for all the fear to leave his eyes. All we ever saw was what looked like love. We miss him dearly.

His demise was fast. Tumors found a couple weeks ago, first of this week he began having bowel accidents and today his body started collapsing. It was time to say goodbye. Goodbye Smokey.