BarkingProse

You’ve probably figured out that I’m a sports dog. If I played football I’d be a wide receiver. Baseball, I’d wanna be Ichiro. Basketball – Air Jordan!

Mom says since I’m about to turn five I have to take it easy on the flyboy stuff. A couple of months ago I went to see the chiropractor. Dr. Hannah told us my knee was inflamed, probably from too much jumping. She told me and Mom I couldn’t play ball the whole weekend! That was terrible.

I’m better now but Mom still won’t hit me the high balls like she used to. I do jump ball anyway even if I could catch it with all four paws on the ground. It’s more fun when you have hang time.

There’s one sport that I’ve loved since I was a pup. Mom calls it running the fence line. Obviously you need a fence and at least one opponent. You line up on each side of the fence and square off  to start the game. Then you both run up and down the fence line barking like a fool.

The neighbor dog Zoey is kinda dumb. She doesn’t know how to play. She’ll come right up to the fence to start the action and then just lie down about three feet away and watch me. It would be more fun if she played with me, especially since I don’t like her. But it’s okay as a solo game.

A couple of mornings ago I had a great game going. Zoey and her pal Brandy were egging me on. It had rained a lot the night before. The track wasn’t in the best condition. Well, one thing led to another.

Pretty soon mom came to get me. She took one look at me and slipped the lead around my neck. “Come on mud dog,” she said. “Time for a bath.” So off we went to the tub where all us mutts get washed. Mom tossed a cookie in the tub and I jumped in after it. Five minutes later, when she was done messing with me, she let me out. I think she overreacted. I don’t think a bath was required. What do you think?

Once upon a time we were blessed to have Darcy in our pack. It seems like forever ago that he came to us through Old Dog Haven. He was old and tired and needed a place to hang out.

At first me and Tess ignored him. He was fat and slow and had no interest in playing. He was afraid of his own shadow and didn’t even know when to bark.

But after a few days he decided he liked the food and warm floors. He figured out mom cooked our food and was smart enough to stick to her. Soon he became mom’s shadow. He even laid out on the cold grass so he could watch her ride the mower.

Everybody who came to the house instantly liked Darcy. He didn’t bark or jump or carry on. He looked everyone in the eye and sometimes offered a paw for inspection. When you looked deep into his eyes you could see he had a big heart. Mom said he had an old soul.

We didn’t now when Darcy was born so we gave him a new birthday – the day he came to Asherpark. We got him just before Thanksgiving in 2009. We lost him in January 2010.

You can read about Darcy by clicking on his name at the top of our home page. It’s a bittersweet story of loss, love and hope. Mom and dad cried so much the day he died. Even me and Tess were sick at heart over losing him so soon.

Just before Darcy died mom told him he would live forever in our hearts. We saved his ashes to spread at Asherpark and put some of them into a special Spirit Weight. I’ll tell you about the Spirit Weight some other time. Even though his time at Asherpark was way too short, Darcy will always be a member of our pack.

I barked about this before but it’s worth barking again. Darcy came to us after we lost Codie. He taught us how easy it is to love another dog, even one who is old and worn out. Darcy couldn’t stay long. He got called to cross the rainbow bridge. But before he left he put it in mom’s heart to take another rescue mutt through Old Dog Haven. That mutt is our beloved Jack.

See, that’s the beauty of our pack. It’s an unbroken chain of love and loss and love again. Think about it and remember Darcy.

 

I’m sorry. I know it’s been a long time since I last barked. I didn’t mean for two weeks to go by without a DailyBark. But it has been a sad time and my bark went silent.

Mom asked me if I wanted Jack or Tess to bark for me, but I had to do it myself. It just took me a while.

Remember my pals the Labradors – Pepper, Maggi and Libby? They stay with us a lot when their people travel. We were looking forward to them coming out but then Pepper got real sick.

Pepper had been fighting off cancer for a long time and the sickness finally got her. She was real brave about the treatments and never complained.

Pepper kept a good attitude and enjoyed life until the end. On her last weekend she was running on the beach with a big smile on her face.

People cry when one of us mutts leaves this world. Us dogs don’t cry but we get real quiet and we mourn in our own way. When Maggi and Libby realized Pepper wasn’t coming home they looked so lost. Usually they run around a lot in our big yard and make lots of noise. This time they just lay down on their beds.

Everything is different now without Pepper. It used to be that we had two packs. There was the house pack and the visiting Labradors pack. Since Maggi and Libby lost their leader they’ve asked to join the house pack. This week it’s been us five dogs in one pack all following mom around like her private security detail.

Before Pepper died the Labradors were a close pack. You can see from this picture taken by their boss how tight they were. Life goes on but there will always be someone missing for the Labradors.

I know Pepper wouldn’t want us to be sad. She’d want somebody to toss her the ball or take her for a ride. So that’s how we’ll celebrate her life.

Mom’s gonna take us all in the car. We’re gonna drive the country roads with the windows down so we can smell the manure. Pepper will be riding with us in spirit. Here’s to you Pepper!