Hi-Boo

It took a lot of convincing to get DH to let us have a dog. I was raised with dogs. But he was raised very differently than I. Anyway, after letting it be known for a long, long time that we'd welcome a dog, he finally surprised us by driving up with one out of the blue one day.

It was a big black furball. All chewy and whiney. And so cute. Our oldest (19) named him Frisky. She was 7 at the time. Our middle daughter (12) was about 7 months old. She renamed him Hi-Boo.

So he's been here a while. We watched him grow into a big bear of a dog. He terrifies people with his size. But he's always been the most gentle of dogs.

He was a thorn in our side many, many times. He was terribly hard to confine. He found ways to escape. During one of his escapes he got a poodle pregnant through a chain-link fence. THAT kind of mischief ALL the time it seemed. He even ended up on a local TV show with a bandage on his head one morning while I was getting ready to go out of town, not even realizing he was OUT yet.

Back then, I knew very little of dog training. And he has never "minded" (obeyed for you northern readers ; ) *me* well (he minds DH). But we love him dearly. Even though he's terrified of rain and has to be held like a baby when it even drizzles. Yes, the 90lb dog has to be held.

Now, he's old. He's taken to limping when we do our evening walks. So we made him a vet appointment for yesterday morning. The limping is arthritis. We've got pills for it that should make him better. But his teeth are bad, and he needed surgery. So we agreed and he was gone all day yesterday having that done. There is also some bloodwork that doesn't look great, and we'll have to follow that.

DH and I went to pick him up around 5 yesterday and he was really out of it. It was a bit of a shock to see this big, happy, playful dog unable to stand. DH carried him to the car and we got him home. It took him much longer than normal to "come around" which doesn't bode well, combined with the bloodwork, but he's doing a bit better today. And he took him meds like a good boy.

But seeing him like this is sobering. And I can't help thinking that it's a lesson in life. That we all have our times of disobedience, perhaps even running wild, and then, in the end, if we're lucky enough to make it that long, we're slowed down.

And hopefully we've nurtured our children in a way that will make them lovingly carry us back home, sit beside us, and feed us from their hands if necessary. And maybe even hold us when we're scared.