Our old dog Romeo died last week and we are missing him. Romeo and Juliet were born in 1996 from a neighborhood stray who crawled under the garage of our old house. There were seven pups of wildly varied ancestry. We found homes for the other five.
Romeo was mostly white with pale yellow patches. He had a curly tail. Romeo’s big bony head and broad chest showed clearly that his father was a pit bill. Romeo was not very smart but was always sweet tempered and gentle. We used to say he had a 30-second-reset on his brain because it took Romeo a long time to learn not to jump on people and to sit on command. However, Romeo was a good watch dog and knew when to bark. He seemed to know the difference between our regular postal carrier and anyone new, even from the back yard.
We have some friends whose daughter loved Romeo. When Beth was 4-years-old, we had to rescue him repeatedly from her shoving balls into his mouth. Romeo never wanted to play fetch but she kept giving him balls. He was very patient about his ball collection.
Juliet was always the smarter of the two dogs. She learned young to climb chain link fences with her toes and to open gates with her nose. Romeo always followed his sister even when his hips and back leg began to hurt him as he got older. Juliet is now getting used to our new 8-month-old puppy, Redda. We have been giving Juliet many special treats and quiet time for resting away from her effervescent new pack mate.
It is hard to say goodbye to a good dog, even when he is old and in pain and the time has clearly come.
| Jessica and puppies, 1996
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Paul, John, Romeo, Redda
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Romeo’s last day
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Images Copyright 1996-2010 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
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