MAN'S BEST FRIEND

i just heard another wonderful dog story. If you follow my blog, you know that I am a dog lover, even though, due to travel schedule going to England in the summer and living on an island with alligators where dogs must be kept on leashes, I have not owned one for quite awhile.

We own a condo on the island which we rent and also make available for our children and grandchildren at Christmas time. Today we had the condo annual meeting where, after a short and sweet business meeting, we have a wine and pizza party. I was chatting with one of my friends there, a really nice guy from Wisconsin, who winters at the condo. Somehow the subject of hunting came up, and I discovered we both once enjoyed pheasant shooting.

My friend, Gary, had a Golden Retriever who was his hunting dog and, as the story will attest, his boon companion. One autumn day Gary decided to go hunting and, just before he planned to leave, he noticed the gutters of his home were overflowing with fallen leaves, so he thought he best clean the gutters out before going hunting. He attached a ladder to the house, and, as he hit the last rung, with one foot on the roof and the other on the ladder, the ladder broke and Gary fell on the concrete driveway. He smashed a hip. broke an arm and ribs and was knocked out with a blow to the head that turned out to be a fracture and a severe concussion.

He lay in the driveway, unable to move once he revived. His dog was right there and saw that Gary was helpless, so he ran to the neighbors on the left and barked furiously. Nothing happened. Then this Golden ran to the neighbors on the right and, once again, barked furiously until, this time, the neighbors appeared and spied Gary prostrate on the driveway, whereupon they called emergency.

While Gary was in the hospital, his vet called to say that the thirteen-year-old Golden was in bad shape and would not have long to live. The vet made arrangements for the dog to be put on a gurney and stay next to Gary in his hospital bed, and the dog died a few days later in the hospital next to Gary.

"Greater love hath no man..." and, in this case, no dog. Wow!