A farewell

[kjpepper]

I learned today that Barkley P. White, Bosslady's infamous german shepherd/beagle mix, was put down last night.

I am... actually really sad about this. This was the only medium-large sized dog I was ever immediately comfortable with, and y'all know me, this is the size range I'm a little touchy and freaked out around. He certainly lived up to his name - in fact when V would put him in the truck and drive to work, you could hear her coming from blocks away simply because you could hear Barkley's full throated barking all the way down. (we actually clocked him once - figured out that he barked an average of twice per city block at 30mph.) I remember when it actually was one of my jobs to take him for walks up on the railroad tracks behind the office, which was always a good break time for me, and fun for him. These were also the days when he had to wear this complicated harness (because he was big and liked to pull) and I was the only one who could figure out how to get it to work. (We called it his "Bondage Gear.") He loved little kids - used to try to run up to them and lick their faces and sit and smile and give everyone goofy doggy grins when they'd pat him and scratch his ears. However weirdly enough the same affection didn't extend to smaller dogs or small animals - he'd been known to eat at least one chipmunk and you didn't want to be on the other end of the leash when he spotted a squirrel unless you had aspirations towards becoming a kite. Still, he was the sweetest boy ever - loved to plunk his head into my lap and gaze pathetically up at me for head scritches or bits of my sandwich while I was working. He'd do this goofy flying nun thing with his ears when he wanted to play or heard something that could have remotely sounded food like. He looked good in polo shirts. If you made funny dog noises at him, he'd "talk" back. And he, like all dogs that knew Bosslady, was devoted to her.

I don't know. He was old when she adopted him - he was a shelter dog, and he was already pushing 10 when she got him in late 2001. I really should be amazed he lasted this long, cause 17 is ancient for a dog, especially a big one. I guess considering he'd only just really begun to slow down noticably around the time Bosslady passed away last year and up to then he still acted like a giant grey muzzled puppy... Heh. I guess part of me just thought the Barkman, as V called him, would last forever. Silly of me, I know.... Ah well.

Farewell my friend, the one canine I could ever truly ascribe that label to. May there be steak grinders, cake and chipmunks aplenty on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge for you.


(There are also some ancient pictures of him on this 2004 entry.)

Comments

[athene.livejournal.com]

RIP Barkley. You were one of the few dogs I was really comfortable around. I remember that you use to let me use you for a footrest and you were always very sweet around me.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Pretty dog.

RIP, Barkley.

[realjordanna.livejournal.com]

at least he's at the rainbow bridge. On another note, the vaw mailing list has been quite depressing of late, I miss the crack ball emails I would get from V that would make me laugh ... I feel like it needs a flooding of happy mail...