Cappy's Corner

I know that it is a celebrated holiday and a time to remember. I now have an extra reason to remember Memorial Day. A very faithful friend of mine has passed away, early on this holiday of remembrance. This friend was my long loved dog, "Baby".

I recall the early days, I was burglarized in 2000 and talked with the police about protection. There was many robberies in my neighborhood, with some victims having burglar alarms. The police said that the only reliable protection is a dog. Of course, that doesn't mean you wont get robbed, but it helps. Anyway, I talked with my brother, who had a friend who had to get rid of their dog, because they were moving to a house that they could not take the dog. He was a big black Bull Mastiff, the only problem was that I had to take on another dog with him. Her name was "Baby", she was a stray that they could not leave behind. Baby, was a wonderful dog, young and a bit wild. For years she was an escape artist, Baby would take every opportunity to dash out the door or gate, literally knocking anyone down who was in the way.

At first me and my family would chase after her, after awhile we got sick of chasing her and just gave up. We found that after no more than 10 minutes she would return, panting and wanting to come in. I would let her in and she would proceed to the fish pond to cool off her feet from her run. This went on for years. Baby, as near as we could figure was a mix of Portuguese water dog and Labrador. So much energy, she loved everyone who came in contact with her, not really a good watch dog but a great companion.

About 6 years ago her faithful friend the Bull Mastiff, Scooby passed away at 10 years old, all the attention went to Baby for awhile until I got her a new friend Bogey. Baby was much more attached to the cats by then, and they would sleep with her like they were her babies. Never really certain how old she was, I can only estimate, between 13 and 15 years old. She had a wonderful life full of play time and surrounded by lots of children. Baby was a great hunter too, I saw her once catch a rat in mid air, she had the rat cornered and it jumped to get away. But, Baby was ready and she leaped into the air and caught it, that was the end of rats in my yard. Baby had many things that would drive me crazy too, back a few years ago I loved to garden, I had my vegetables mixed among my landscape, until I found that Baby loved vegetables, she ate tomatoes, broccoli, string beans and avocados. Her appetite for my garden was so huge she reduced my crop so much that I had to fence the garden, somehow she managed to get her paws in enough to grab a few tomatoes and green beans in spite of the fence.

After many years she stopped running away, just ran out of energy to do so, but it hasn't been that many years. The last year her vision and hearing became impaired, just as any other senior, but still wagging her tail anytime she had an opportunity to get some loving.

This weekend I made her a nice meal with chicken soup as I did sometimes, a bit a treat for the old girl. She was having problems getting up, I helped her up and let her out to go potty, she laid down in her favorite place to go to sleep and in the morning she had passed on to the other side. I know that she is now running and playing with all the other pets that I have had, where she awaits me. I can see her sitting there with tail wagging, and giving me her paw for a treat. I will always remember her as each Memorial Day comes.