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Furry Companionship

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Nico (left) and Christopher at the helm of a Walt Disney World Monorail, January 1, 2017.

January 11, 2017

I could hear my Yellow Labradors panting from a mile away.  The sound was like the crackle of thunder rolling over green pastures. The sound seemed to go on forever. At 12 years old and 6 months he still has a lot of life in him. He can barely contain his enthusiasm when we come to the dog park. I’m grateful for his companionship after all theses years. Sadly he hasn't realized that youth is no longer on his side.

I got him when he was just a puppy at 12 weeks. Puppies are like babies when you get them. They don’t have a clue how life works. You have to potty trained them and I had to teach him, not about the ABC’s, but all about the “no’s!”

“No! Don’t eat those shoes!”

“No! Don’t jump on the couch!”

“No! Don’t knock over the trash!”

“NO!”
“NO!”
“NO!”

And then the day he turned 2 he matured. We have gone to the beach and he's swam in the ocean. He flew to Colorado in the belly of a 767. He has ridden in cars and on boats and once he was even in the newspaper. He has been a loyal companion. Him and I are the quintessential boy and his dog story.

Champ also has his loyal friend.  Found in an unlikely partner, Bichon Frise companion, Sugar. Both dogs like 2 peas on a pod. It was Champ who alerted me when Sugar went overboard on the boat. We traveled about a mile down the Intracoastal Waterway before I figured out why Champ was barking at me. I just thought he was hungry. But when he ignored the milk bone I realized someone else was missing,  sugar had gone overboard. Needless to say I hurriedly turn the boat around and found that little dog paddling her little legs off to save her own life. I felt so bad but I had her back in the boat and was relieved she was back with us.Needless to say she was pissed off at me.

My dogs have been loyal to me through thick and thin. I haven’t given them the time they deserve after my wife died in 2012. With my work, the kids and all the life demands on being a family person it feels like to me I allow my dogs to go unnoticed. I guess I'm writing this blog now because they're getting older and more infirm and I'm feeling a little guilty for a person who feels as if I'm a loyal companion myself. But I haven't treated them fairly even thought they are the last connection to my past. And when they die, then everything that was with me during my coming of age years, will be disconnected.  


So while I sit here and watch the dogs in the dog park mingle by playing, smelling there butts and marking their territory I fully understand what my dogs have meant to me over the years. And as they age I have gone from saying, “no” to “ah, okay why not?” Now it is time for me to show them the loyalty that they both have given to me sadly however I do realize that youth is no longer on their side.


Ringing in the New Year at the Walt Disney World Resort, January 1, 2017! 

© copyright 2017 Captain Imperfecto, LLC. All rights reserved. 

I hope everyone has a healthy and prosperous 2017! 






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