R.I.P. Charley the Golden Retriever

So Charley was despatched to his maker this afternoon, a very old and very sick dog.

As it developed, Charley didn’t pass a year ago, when we were told he was dying of megaesophagus. He doddered along, mellow and slow-moving, until today, when M’jihito had to call a vet to come put him to sleep. The dog was fourteen years old, a ripe old age indeed for an overbred beast of 90 pounds.

My son is extremely upset, as you can imagine. Because he works from home — has been doing so since the plague descended on us and his employer, a huge insurance company, realized there’s little or no reason to rent expensive office space for crews of insurance adjusters who do most of their work on the phone or online — he’s had Charley at his side just about 24/7. For years.

Anyway, Son was horribly upset this afternoon, when I last saw him. Don’t know how long — if ever — it will take for him to get over this trauma.

***

We came rather closer than one would like to losing Ruby the Corgi this afternoon, too. Somehow she managed to get inside the closed (I thought!!) pool gate. When I noticed she wasn’t underfoot and went outside to call her, there she was, prancing along the edge of the pool!

HOLY mackerel!

Fortunately, she didn’t fall in. She came a-running when she heard me hollering for her.

Whew! That was close!

***

Beyond close for the beloved Charley, though.

{sigh}

Dunno if my son will get another dog or not. Or if so, when. People respond to the loss of a beloved side-kick in different ways. Some of us run right out and get another pet. Others wait — maybe wait a long time — before taking on a new pal.

M’jihito is fond of pure-bred dogs, and so I imagine that sooner or later he’ll seek out a breeder. He may even have the contact information for the couple who produced Charley. We shall see, in due course

Me: after this, it’s the Humane Society or the pound. I stumbled upon Cassie the Corgi at the Humane Society, where some gracious couple had dumped her by way of punishing their teenaged daughter (can you imagine? they admitted to that in their reason for placing the poor little dog there).

The Humane Society has moved, though. The last time we tried to visit, we couldn’t find it. They’ve shifted it way north, according to their online map.  And I’ll be darned if I can see where it is in real life.