A good dog

Dogs are our best friends. You cat people don't know what you are missing....unless you also have dogs and then you aren't missing a thing. Dogs are good people...yes, perhaps a bit “on the spectrum”, but that simply means that they, like little children, don't understand the lies that people use to get through life. This is a roundabout way of saying I miss my lifetime of old and dear friends: Christie, Benzer, Sugar and Trolley, Steamer, Rex, Teddy... and, now, Tio.

We know nothing about Tio's beginning as he was, we understand, brought north at around 5 years old as a semi-feral dog from east Texas. We have no way of knowing exactly how lead airgun pellets got embedded near his spine, too close to remove, but can only speculate about humans and feral dogs. And I envy his end, falling into the darkness of sleep... and then farther... away from pain, while in the company of the woman who had rescued him as he had rescued her.

Why did he die? Well, short answer is he got cancer and the chemo treatment failed. We could talk for hours about the details or speculate, but in the end, we all gotta go: at least we can offer our dog friends an easy out. I've sat with Zinger (a neighbor's dog who adopted us), Steamer, and Teddy, comforting them as they lay in pain... and I felt their relief and peace,… and felt them fade to black.

The important thing is Tio's life. Once he came to Cynthia, I think that it became rather wonderful....although I wasn't there to document it at first. She says that she told him, a probable chihuahua/pug mix, that he had to be a real Cape Cod dog if he wanted to live with her.... so he rode in bike baskets, rowboats, kayaks, canoes,

motorboats, and paddleboards, etc.

He walked in the snow, despite cold feet (hoping here to find mice!).

He chased cast lures... to the point his paws got damp... then stood at water's edge and barked. He LOVED to roughhouse with far larger dogs and would head straight for the largest crowd in the dog park. When Lucy came along, he chased the skunks she would find... and got hit right between the eyes at least three times. And, once I came along and we sailed on a Hobie Cat, he found that laps were not just the only dry spot, but cuddling with Cynthia could be tolerable.... or even nice... and he began, more and more, to abandon his bed for the big one containing his favorite human.

Tio: good natured, independent, a lover of spots in the sun and good walks,

always up for an adventure, and a good and loyal friend. He will be missed.