The passing of time

The passing of time... eventually it catches up to all of us and unfortunately three days ago it caught up with my uncles dog, Dougal.

He died in his sleep at the ripe old age of 17 on his favourite blanket in the garden on a nice summers day, a perfectly tranquil end for one of the craziest dogs I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. And he was crazy, sometimes crazy like a fox! He was crazy but he was always friendly never aggressive and always up for fun.

I remember when I was last out in Seattle visiting my uncle, Dougal would curl up at the end of my bed and fall asleep, and he was a big dog, being a black Labrador but it was nice knowing he was there, of course come morning he'd be on my uncles bed but it he chose to sleep with me first which was nice. I'm just glad I was sleeping in a double bed!

Dougal hated it whenever we left the house, he would walk back and forth by the gate and moan, like dogs do, apparently he used to jump over the gate when he was younger but my uncle had modified it in recent years to stop him from jumping it (by attaching lengths of wood sticking out the top in a fan pattern) and it had worked until one day. When we were heading out somewhere, just loading the car up and Dougal, desperate as ever, jumped over the gate, we're talking a good 4-5 foot here, it sure was a spectacle, only out classed by my uncles superb grab of Dougal's collar.

These are just simple memories but the thing that sticks in my mind the most was what I called out when he was about, "Dougal, Dougal, Dougal" it was such a simple thing but I got joy from saying and I think he liked it as well, ignoring me if I didn't say but when I did he'd come running! It also had the added benefit of really annoying my brother!

I think it's of great testament to Dougal that although I only see him on two trips, it's taken me over an hour to write this, two meetings and such emotion I can only imagine what my uncle is going through.

So long Dougal, I'll miss you.

This is Benji Dude, asking you to be understanding if I rip you a new one...