Slim 1991-2006

Slim was born in 1991 in rural Charles City County, half chow and half blue tick hound. When I brought him home from the pound he had chain marks around his neck. He was wary about people from the get go, but he loved to bark at trucks and sleep in the sun. He always made it clear that he really belonged to no one but would tolerate me because I brought home the Dog Chow. He loved biscuits and bones but hardly ever ate them. As if he remembered hard times, he always buried them for later.

In his middle age he enjoyed the run of a large yard and the companionship of a beagle named Teenie. I married and he got a running partner.He lived with two cats and was even known to give them a lick on the head every now and then. He flew to Portland with us and became an apartment dweller. He snapped at every smoker in the Park Blocks for a year or so. Ella was born and she would nap with her feet in his ear on the sofa. He knew how to take care of a baby. Walking him in the Portland rain became another story, and he flew back to the east coast. We sent him to the farm, but it really was a farm where he could run and live out his days chasing rabbits. That first farm was my brother's. They keep five or six dogs, and Slim just didn't run with the pack there. Then there was the incident with the mysteriously murdered poultry. He was later pardoned but was extradited to my mother's house.

He had some kind of spell about a year ago and hasn't been the same since. We think he was totally deaf, and he even hated to be brushed. Today he had another "spell", maybe a large stroke. My mother called the vet who wasn't availble until friday to euthanize him. Luckily, she lives in the remants of the country. Bill came over and shot the dog in the head and buried him. Sometimes you just don't know what a good neighbor will do for you. Now I've got to send him a thanks for shooting my dog in the head card. How's that for a Hallmark moment?