RIP, Wizard

My girlfriend, Marilyn, got our dog from the ASPCA a little over 10 years ago. He was maybe 2 or 3 at the time. The people at the shelter told her that he was a rescue dog. Whoever the family was who had him originally, they were not kind to him at all. It seems they left him tied up on a chain in the yard. It’s likely that they used to hit him often enough to make an impression, because when my girlfriend first brought him home he used to visibly shake if she picked up a hairbrush to give him a brushing.

Wizard was mostly Black Lab, though his tail looked like a German Shepherd’s. He was a little uncivilized at first. He was always a good dog, but he was a bit “high energy.” That’s the polite way to put it. My girlfriend acquired me only a couple of months or so after she got the dog, so I can attest to his early behavior.

He really tried though, and Marilyn was very patient with him. That dog really tried to please. I think he knew from the outset that he had found a loving home. Marilyn would be the first to tell you that she knows next to nothing about training dogs. She would just speak to him, and Wizard would look at her intently like he was trying to figure out what she wanted from him. And he’d figure it out. We used to joke that he missed his true calling, that if he had been lucky enough to have been adopted by one of those trainers that rescues intelligent dogs from the pound and turns them into movie dogs, he would have had a career in Hollywood. He just seemed to fit the profile.

I’m more of a cat person than a dog person, but that was okay. We had that in common. Wizard loved cats. There were cats in the house right from the beginning and almost for his whole life. There was only a period of about six months — around 2 or 3 years ago — when there were no cats in the house. I’m pretty sure he missed having them, because when we brought the kittens home that dog basically jumped out of his skin, he was so excited to see them.

Back in November we got some bad news. Wizard had developed a tumor in his spleen. He was already 12 or 13, and we didn’t think surgery was the right thing. The veterinarian told us that we should see that the dog took it easy. But, as my girlfriend’s daughter remarked tonight, Wizard sucked at being an old dog. He didn’t know how to slow down. And so, even with his arthritic back legs he would run around the house like a lunatic when we were getting his dinner ready. Even though his back legs, of late, had begun to give out on him and would cause him to slip and fall, I saw him only recently bound up two flights of stairs after coming back in from outside because he remembered that there was a dish of cat food left out on the kitchen floor.

Even tonight, he tried to jump up on his hind legs and throw his front paws over the railing when Marilyn came up the stairs with his dinner bowl.

A couple of hours after dinner he collapsed. It was sudden, just as the vet told us back in November it likely would be. He was very weak and didn’t want to lift his head up. I carried him into the car and sat with him with his head on my lap while Marilyn drove to the vet’s. The news was neither good nor unexpected, and as hard as it was, we did what seemed like the right thing to do.

You know, that dog used to drive me crazy, and not just sometimes. But, he really was the best dog I ever knew. We lost a friend and companion today, and I would say the world is poorer one very good dog. So, please, take some time today to pet your dog and to remind him of how fortunate you are to have him as your companion. And if you only have a cat around the house, that’s okay. A cat will do.

Wizard would understand.