Lady

Lady was a spaniel mix my father got as a pup with the intention that she should be my oldest brother's dog. My brother was only 8 or 10 at the time and so the majority of the caring and training fell to my father. Inevitably, Lady came to view my father as the leader of the pack and became his devoted follower.

Like most spaniel breeds she was very intelligent. She had the concept for things being more than one. She would be asked to get my father's slipper and he would say, "I have another foot get the other one" and off she would go to get it. She liked walking down the street to meet the mailman and bring our mail back home.

I don't think she ever had a leash or a collar. She stuck by my father's side when walking. It was a time when people just opened the door and let the dog out to roam. She never went far from home and we never worried about her coming to harm or getting lost.

Her best friend was a cat named Felix who delighted in washing her face every time she passed within distance. Lady was a gentle soul and put up with all Felix's shenanigans. She was also gentle and intensely curious about the other pets in the house.

A pair of hamsters that she loved to watch as they mindlessly ran in their plastic wheel.

She had no desire to hurt them and watched them for hours at a time. They would crawl up in her fur and her only reaction was intense staring.

And it came to pass I grew up and moved out seeing her only infrequently. Each time I came home it seemed as if she had aged so very much. She was slowed down with arthritis, had cataracts that left her with little vision and was essentially deaf. As happens to all pets the day came she could no longer stand on her own and the pain from her arthritis became unbearable. We said our goodbyes as she slipped peacefully to sleep. She was in her early 20's and was laid to rest beside her lifelong buddy Felix under an oak tree in the yard.