October 5, 2008

A dog's love

Last fall my daughter Linden did a good thing; she adopted a dog from the Humane Society that was on death row. She and her roommate Reagan walked through the room with the cages looking for a small dog that would be appropriate for the doublewide they were renting. When they passed by a large cage with two Huskies, one black and white the other brown and white, they glanced at them and kept walking thinking the dogs were too large for their living situation. Something happened then that stopped them in their tracks: The dogs both started singing to them in beautiful voices. Linden and Reagan turned around and went back to look at them again and they saw that the dogs were brothers, 5 and 6 years old, and they were marked for destruction in two days.

The black and white dog put his nose through the bars and licked Linden’s hand. That was how she met Baal. Throwing conventional wisdom to the wind they adopted both dogs and took them home. It wasn’t easy. Their place was small and the dogs were very big. They weren’t house broken very well. They didn’t like Reagan’s cats. Baal had however bonded strongly with Linden and she persevered in teaching him to be a good house dog. Baal thrived with Linden and he learned swiftly.

When I first went to visit them I was impressed by how devoted Baal had become to his new master in just a short time. He had that kind of devotion that says, “You saved me and I love you for that”. Linden moved into a townhouse a month later with two of her friends and Reagan moved back to Chicago with “Brown Bear”, Baal’s brother to live with her family again. Baal was alone but he had Linden and her friends. Baal continued to thrive, winning the hearts of everyone who met him with his outgoing affection and his beautiful singing voice. Linden quickly became as devoted to Baal as he was to her, even telling her boyfriend she would help him pack when he gave her the choice of getting rid of Baal or he would move out. Linden said she had made a commitment to save Baal and she wouldn’t go back on that commitment.

At first I thought Linden hadn’t really thought through her decision to take in such a large dog, but when I first met Baal I liked him and he liked me. Every time I went over he was happy to see me again, and how do you do anything but love a dog who so clearly loves you. The first time Linden brought him over to our house Baal was very excited when he saw I lived in this house. He came right over to me and lavished his affection on me. I returned the affections because he had won my heart too and I also saw that Baal would protect Linden if she ever needed to be protected. He was friendly and warm and he was clearly alert too, missing nothing, watching everything, right in the middle of the action.

In the spring of this year Linden got another dog, a little Chihuahua she named “Little Dog” who was as silly and happy and cute as any dog I’ve ever seen. Baal grudgingly accepted the little pest into their home and the two dogs became bonded. Little Dog the worshipful little companion, Baal the big protector and teacher. They were a humorous pair, as unlikely a couple as they were both beautiful.

Last month Linden moved out of her townhouse, her lease up and her future plans unsure. She was staying here at home sometimes, other times with friends. Her dogs were difficult to carry around with her so she asked if they could stay with us and we agreed, mostly because Little Dog was such a funny little thing. Little Dog became Lori’s 2nd shadow, every night vaulting the 40 inches up into the bed and snuggling up close to her. Baal became my companion, following me around everywhere and greeting me every night when I came home from work with his chorus of joy at my return. Baal was so enthusiastic about everything. He sang if you fed him, he sang when you let him out and sang again when you let him back in. If you laughed he sang, if you went for a walk he sang. When company came over he sang his greeting after he was sure they were “OK”. Baal’s love of life was perfectly evident. He was living the life of the condemned dog who is suddenly given a reprieve from the Euthanizer’s needle and greets every day, every happy event with the joy he so clearly felt.

Every day when we went to work we put the big dogs out to spend the day on the porch and locked Little Dog in the garage because he was having some difficulty with the concept of potty is solely an outdoor thing. Every night when we came home the dogs would all be on the front porch and would come out to greet us, Baal in the fore singing his joy at our return. Last week I went to Canada again for a few days to work on a systems' programming and when I returned Baal was right there to receive some love and to again be my companion while I sat up into the night watching CNN and working on my computer.

Last night was Baal’s end. When I went outside in the evening to make a couple calls on my cell phone he came out with me as was his wont, but he disappeared. He had started to slip away into the woods during the daytime to play in the swamp but he always came right home and was on the porch when we returned. I called him and whistled but he didn’t return. I went back out at midnight and again at 1 AM and whistled and whistled but he didn’t return. At 5 AM we got a call from Linden. She was very distraught and through her tears she told us she had a message on her cell phone that a young woman had found Baal dead, hit by a car. The young woman had communicated her own distress and sympathy for Linden’s loss and had Baal’s collar and tags for Linden.

We got up, dressed, and set off to find him in the area she said he was, but we didn’t see him. On the way home I decided to detour around the country block of roads we live on to check the road just north of our house because the cars drive very fast down that road and it had been a dark night with some fog. We found Baal there on the side of the road, cold and lifeless. I placed him in the back of our truck and we brought him home. It was a very sad experience but it was also clear that Baal hadn’t suffered, though not superficially busted up his neck and hips were broken. There were no skid marks. The car had come over the crest of the road at high speed and Baal unfortunately had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They wouldn’t have seen him until they were right on him. His face was peaceful, there was no sign of suffering on it. He had probably been running and he left the world feeling great pleasure at hunting in the darkness under the stars with lots of good smells and interesting sights. He left the world a complete and happy dog.

This morning Lori and John and I buried Baal behind our hay field at the beginning of the woods where deer run and the tall grass and bushes are thick. We buried him in one of the places where he was happy, where we walked with him and he splashed in the pools of water that are just beyond.

We dug him a deep grave down into the grey clay that’s below the thick black dirt and below the sandy clay loam so no animal would disturb his resting place. It was a long labor but we did it well for him and I carried Baal, my friend and companion, in my arms and I laid him down to rest with one of Lindens shirts over his face, to keep the dirt off it and so he slept with her scent close to him.

Perhaps we did this for ourselves, for what does treating a dead body with dignity do for the dead? All that matters to me is I did the best I could for my pal and it helped us to feel comforted to treat him with dignity. He was a beautiful animal with a warm loving spirit who was devoted to those he loved. It was impossible not to love him because of the love that was in him freely given. I will miss him greatly.

Linden came over this afternoon, she had needed some time to grieve privately, and we walked back together to his grave. We talked about the funny things Baal did and about how much we all loved him. We especially talked about what a blessing Linden had done for Baal in giving him this last year in his life and what a beautiful dog and member of our household he had become. Sometimes we don’t get all the time we would like to have with someone or some pet that we love. Our time with Baal was too brief, for Lori and I had agreed to keep Baal permanently just last week if it turned out he wouldn’t be able to live at Linden’s new place. Maybe it wasn’t the quantity of time that mattered most though. Baal gave us at least as much as we gave him and we are richer for having known that beautiful animal and faithful companion.