Good Dogs Die

There is a saying out there that the one bad thing about dogs is they don't live very long. I can attest to that.

We had Chester, that is the same dog who has been pictured here many times because he was always just there being next to vegetables, going fishing, digging in the garden and being under foot.

Well, Chester had an odd life I suppose. We recently learned via a chip, he started out in California the off spring of some bitch (I mean that kindly) and later moved to Colorado. We think he may have been abandoned somewhere in that first story.

When we got him he had been abandoned again, this time on the ranch we used to live on. The cowboy that worked there had been having some marital problems and for reasons unimaginable just left him to fend for himself in the foothills of Larimar county on a five thousand acre ranch. The dog freaked out and jumped in a friend's pickup and wouldn't leave.

We could see he was one hell of a dog, a beauty in every way, maybe a little baggage from being abandoned and possibly beaten, but still a real lover. I got him to jump in our car because our friend with the pickup had a dog.

So five years later at the age of eleven, Chester moved on. We had a great life together and he filled a great spot in our lives. For him to just up and have a bad spleen seems very unfair but either cancer or a little spirochete got him and he faded away.

After his first bout of blood loss, he rebounded so that we could adjust and spend some fun time with him, catching popcorn and walking the yard. As of three days ago he is no more. Bummer. Dogs sure do make our lives rich that's why when they go there is pain, but many great memories. Three cheers for Chester.