Funeral for a Friend

My good friend Doc Holiday was laid to rest this week at the ranch.

He was a sweet and loving Black Labrador retriever. Kris and I received him as a gift when we moved into our house in Oregon. We had many great hikes and walks together, and he was always a good sport. He had no nose, chronic ear infections that limited his hearing, and was an unenthusiastic retriever, but was always willing to please. He had a gentle way about him, and was afraid of water his whole life. I suspect that he was disciplined with water when he was a pup (we got him as a cull from hunting dog breeder in Montana) as he was deathly afraid of water in any form, but especially when it came out of a hose.

He lived in Oregon for five years, and then moved with us to Provo, then Orem. When I first moved to the ranch, he came with me. It was there that I first saw him spontaneously get his feet wet, in Thistle creek. And it was there that he became truly old. He lost his hearing and eyesight, became progressively more arthritic, and interacted less and less with the other dogs at the ranch. He moved home to Orem for the last while, and Kris and Dylan took very good care of him as he became more incontinent and disoriented.

He hated cold weather, but loved lying in the sun. he would sit out in the yard at the ranch, or down in the courtyard or up on the deck, and would get up only to find more sunlight. His teeth eventually failed him, but his tail never did- he was always waggingly glad to see those whose smell he recognized, and he loved to be scratched.

I have lost friends and patients over the years. It never gets easier. Doc was a true loyal loving companion, and his presence will be missed.

He will be there at the ranch now, forever, buried on the crest of a sun drenched hill, behind a boulder to shelter him from the wind, nose toward the stream and eyes closed, dreaming of another life.