A Dog's Story

The dog walked stiffly and heavily into the boy’s bedroom. She knew this moment had been coming, and now was the time. She just had one more thing to do.

She was too old to jump on her own onto the boy’s bed like she used to. She nervously paced back and forth, breathing heavily.

The boy stirred, groaning under the weight of sleep trying to keep him down. He sensed the dog’s presence. The dog stopped her pacing. She was happy to have awoken the boy. Wearily, he hauled her into bed.

But the dog had things on her mind other than sleep. Normally she would have crawled under the covers and slept at the boy’s feet. That practice had come to a halt in recent months as her condition made the boy’s nighttime movements painful to endure.

Instead, the dog sat at the head of the bed and stared at the boy.

She had taken good care of him. Over the years she gave her love and loyalty to him. She had watched him grow from an awkward, shy boy into a young teen. He had been devoted to her as well, playing with her everyday after school, running with her in the fields behind their house and letting her lick him when Mom wasn’t around. The dog loved everyone in the household, even endured the standoffish cat. But the boy was hers.

Things had changed recently though. The boy seemed to rely on her less for companionship. He had discovered for the first time in his life a common interest with other kids. After school activities kept him out of the house and away from the dog more and more. The dog didn’t really know what was going on; she just knew things had changed.

She was changed too. She was much older than the eager young puppy the boy’s grandparents found in a ditch outside their house. It had been many years since she first heard the boy climb down the wooden stairs into the grandparent’s basement where they met. She eagerly jumped up and looked into the eyes of her new charge. The boy had been ecstatic. Their bond was immediate.

She was old now She laid around the house more. She could no longer hear much. Could no longer detect the scent of rabbits that were abundant around the house. She couldn’t have chased them even if she tried.

The dog stared and whimpered. Again the boy stirred. Impatient to sleep, he put the dog off the bed. She tried pacing again, but the boy was fast asleep. She sat there in the dark, starring at the boy. Finally, she turned and walked out of the room.

Slowly she walked downstairs and into the parent’s room. Her pacing easily awakened the food-giver. As far as the dog was concerned the boy’s mother was the alpha dog as food and water came from her. She also was the one who would let the dog out in the night if needed. Tonight the food-giver faithful provided this service and the dog stepped out into the winter cold.

She stepped gingerly. She was a small dog, and the heavy snow that that fell that winter made walking even harder for her. She stepped into the plowed driveway, and walked across the street where she had chased so many cars before, and into the neighbor’s yard. She didn’t have car chasing on her mind anymore.

She was sad. In all her time with boy, they had always found a way to communicate. Tonight she had failed.

Walking into the neighbor’s yard she found one of her favorite secret places, under the low hanging boughs of a pine tree. The snow had not reached here. Sighing, the dog wearily lay on the soft bed of fallen pine needles. She rested her head on her front paws. She took a breath, and images of the boy’s face flickered in her mind’s eye as she died.

The neighbor found what was left of her that spring, while doing yard work. It happened to be the boy’s birthday. He was not home, and his parents took the dog’s remains and buried them in the field.

Later, shedding tears once again in grief for his old friend, the boy sat next to her grave.

Through his tears he could only muster one word, which he said over and over – “Goodbye,” he cried. “Goodbye.”