| Anyone familiar with our shop also knew that we were the ones with the two dogs. From early on, our guys came to work with me. Part as a way of having their company and partly to keep them from staying at home all day just laying around and getting old. The little guy is Taylor, the big black one Dusty. Taylor had the personality, always ready to say "Hi" to folks and go over to get a scratch. Dusty has been the head of our security here, keeping us safe. Both have a story and they are both a part of the work we have done here and the feeling we try to put into each piece of work we do. Dusty's is the oldest story, around the 27th or 28th of December in 1994 I was driving home from my last place of employment with my daughter. We came around the corner and there at the street we were turning on a VW minibus was stopped at the sign. Sitting not three feet in front of him, staring up at him, was a dog. I could see the driver and he looked at me and kind of motioned like "Look at this crazy dog!" We pulled over and I said to my girl "Well, you know the drill, if he comes up to us we'll take care of him(find his people)." Well, I got out and I felt something behind me and I looked and he had jumped inside the truck! I said "I guess we'll take him home!" We got him there and washed him and, it being a sunless snowy day, the light was funny and I couldn't really focus good on him. He still looked dirty after a bath so we called him Dusty. Couldn't find his owner and he seemed like a good watch dog so we kept him. He did turn out to be a great watch dog. People paid attention to him. After I married again he took my wife as part of our "pack". It was funny, I would sneak up on her and Dusty would see me and bark because I was trying to "get" her. Not a threatening bark but like a "Hey! Hey! You're the boss but leave her alone!" For all his toughness he would do things like touch your leg as he walked with you. Sometimes, in the summer and I'd be wearing shorts, he would give you the softest of licks. More to touch you and say he was with you than a lick actually. Oddly touching gesture... Taylor's story was a different one. Not six months later the little Doxie mix we had, who was only ten, died of heart failure. He really was my first dog, first that was mine on my own not the family dog when I was a child. He was a good guy with a great personality and that spirit that Doxies are known for. I was pretty devastated, the little guy left quite a hole when he was gone. A week had passed and I had to do something to help with the grief. We went to the Greene county Animal Shelter. They had told us they had a couple of Doxie mixes so we were excited. It was evident that their idea of a Doxie and any actual relation to the breed were two different things. We were about to leave and a I said "We came this far, maybe we should ask about one of these guys." There was one dog who was not barking at us, in fact he wasn't even paying us any attention at all, just sitting there on the side of his leg not his butt.(Turns out that this is his way of begging, not looking at you) I asked the attendant " What's up with this guy?" He told me that if no one filled out a questionnaire on him that he was being put to sleep at the end of the day. Well, it was five o'clock so there wasn't much left to that day." We asked to hold him and he wasn't really that keen on being held. I don't know why but we said we wanted him. I guess I could go on for quite a while on this little guy. He turned out to have been a little mistreated. He liked to get out of the yard and just go exploring, a regular Houdini he was. One time he got out and some kids brought him back. They gave him to my neighbor but only after he bought them a pack of smokes! I started bringing both of them to work with me around '99, they were great company. Taylor loved everyone, he would go up, and if he didn't get a scratch, he had a routine to get attention. It was funny, maybe five people, since he was with us, would just ignore him completely. He would look after them when they walked away in that sort of longing, knowing the scratch was lost, way that he had. Then he would kind of sniff and walk on, sort of like he just didn't understand what was wrong with that person but he never dwelled on it. Well, the years passed, every day was one with my guys right there. Always a part of me and my life. This condensed version can only give you a glimpse into that daily routine. I'm sure you know that no dog story ever ends well. Taylor was always the strongest of dogs. He looked heavy but he was all heart and muscle underneath. I never took him to the vet but to have his teeth cleaned. This last winter, '08-'09, seemed to be a hard one on both my guys. It started that Taylor boy went down the steps a little slower. Then he didn't like to run up them like he used to. We assumed he was about 15 years old by now and that was natural. Dusty had already done the same by that age. Spring came and he didn't pick up as much as I thought he would with the warming weather. Then about March he wouldn't jump right up when I got him in the morning. I thought maybe it was something making him tired and work was slow so I wasn't looking to hard at the little guy. About the end of April my daughter took him to the vet. He had cancer. A week and a half later my little buddy, the one who was nothing but alive and strong. The one who was ready just to have fun and get some attention was gone. His heart was weak and that is what did him in at last, I could see had got up that night and made himself comfortable,he died in his sleep,. I went to the shop and made him a box. I painted on the top: Taylor, no happier friend, no better dog, and we dug a hole and put him down in it. After I was done I planted a white teacup rose over top of him..... ....... From that morning, my Dusty dog changed. While we were taking care of Taylor, he came over. He was different though, not focused. That's how he has been since then. He stopped walking around and marking his territory. He goes out and takes a whiz and comes back. They weren't exactly best friends but they were companions. He acts as though he has lost a sense, like he can't smell anymore or can't see or maybe he tries to wag his tail but it isn't there... This August I took him to the vet. He hasn't been except for teeth cleanings either...he has arthritis in his back legs(my poor guy, who used to fly! The dog who could jump into the back of my pickup truck 4 feet off the ground and only his back feet touch the tailgate!)and the beginnings of kidney failure. This is the story f the dogs of Shadowhill. Right now Dusty is doing a little better. I have to take a lot of time with him, sometimes he is grumpy, sometimes he is not sure where he is.....I take care of my buddy and I cry because I know his time is not long. I know how much I will miss him because he is so close to me, so much a part of my day and I know how much I have missed Taylor. It's Friday, Jan 15. Woke up today, Dusty's back leg wasn't working, just hanging there. The vet said, from what I described, that he had a neurological problem, it wasn't going to get better. He'd also lost about 12 pounds in the last month and a half. A mobile vet cam by the shop that evening, gave him a shot. Dusty died while I was holding him..... I am writing this and sharing it with whoever takes the time to read it as a tribute to them and an acknowledgment of their contribution, to the 'Hill, my life and my work. Just what they gave me I could not begin to say, so many other things have given my life depth and meaning as well but they were good friends but also in my care, depedent on me. Other things I have had to care for and take care of...but my two buddies maybe I just feel like when I go to wag my tail, it's just not there. |
Me and the boys summer of '01
With my father-in-law May '07
Stretch it Tay