Goodbye Charlie

The photo you see is a fairly old one.....the dogs, Charlie (left) and Dawg were abandoned about twelve or fourteen years ago by neighbors.

I guess the neighbors fell on hard times, they moved away in the middle of the night. They had small children, one a little girl, loved Charlie and Dawg. You could hear her every day yelling Choarlielllllllll, Dawggggggg. I kept thinking that first day, they would come back to get the dogs.

Evening came, and the dogs were sitting in the driveway, waiting. The next morning, I thought surely today........that evening, nope. So, I carried some food and water to them. Every day for two weeks I carried food and water, no one came.

Finally, the dogs began to come into our yard, they were lovable and kind. But they had not been cared for, so they became friends with our Vet, adjusted to our other dogs and we became one big happy doggie world. They both had serious health issues, but soon, you'd never know it to look at them......our vet kept telling me Charlie was old. Dawg was like a big cuddly brown bear......with the softest fur you could ever imagine. Charlie was a rogue. He loved to amble around the neighborhood. He had the happiest personality, loved kids, opened every gate he could find, and if there was ever a female dog that got "popular"within a mile he had to go visit.....

not to do anything, just sit out at the edge of the yard and watch all the other dogs make fools of themselves.

Dawg passed away a couple of Christmases ago, Charlie grieved for over a year and it truly took the sparkle out of him. Every once in a while you'd see him walking through the yard, looking up the driveway.......wondering what happened to his best friend. This winter when it snowed, he didn't play like he once did, his amble was even slower and though his coat was still thick and shaggy, he was thin. We figure he was possibly fifteen or sixteen years old......maybe even twenty.

The past few weeks I could see his life slowing down, he would walk to the barn, and have to rest before he made it back to the house. The vet had told me last year, he wouldn't last much longer. He had kidney issues, chronic infections, but he always pulled through. Last night,he

lay down in the kitchen floor, ate a little of Buddy's Slim Jim and slept. This afternoon, he crossed over the rainbow to go see his best friend Dawg. I will never forget Charlie and Dawg, they brought so much joy and happiness into our lives, and all they ever wanted was a little food and love. As we buried Charlie this evening at sunset, I picked purple violets for his grave.....I hope he and Dawg had a great reunion. Goodbye Charlie.