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I don’t expect this to interest many people, but I have a Very Good Dog

Her name is Sue because, well, that’s what suited her when she puppy-flopped into our lives. She was just a Sue. She’s not just a good dog, she is the best dog. #InternationalDogDay

 

 

 
She’s a Kelpie; a proper sheep dog. A retired sheep dog now because she’s 17 and she’s been on the pension for the last 6 years. She’s stiff when she walks these days. She finds it hard to see. But she really used to be something.
 

When you’d whistle her up to the sheep yards, she’d fling herself into the air. A flurried wind of whistling fur, she’d clear those yard fences and land on the sheep’s backs like she had dog-wings. She still is something. Even now.

 

I’ve lost a few people over the last 17 years; some expected, some too soon. And Sue has patiently sat by me through the loss of every one of them. Kelpies are incredibly loyal dogs – one person dogs really. And I’m her one person.

 

 
So today, we’ll walk one more time along the river. She’ll find it hard because her legs are failing her. I’ll take her for a ride past the sale yards so she can smell the sheep & hear the cries of “SALE-OH!” She can imagine she’s flying over those sheep yards one more time.
 
 
And then we’ll drive back home. We’ll stop the ute. And I’ll pause for a minute and take a deep breath. We’ll wait for the vet to come at the appointed time, but if I’m honest, I’m hoping they’ll be late. I’m hoping they don’t ever come.
 
 
But they will come. We’ll go outside underneath the ash tree because that’s her favourite spot, and then the vet will kneel down beside her while I hold her. And I will tell her all about her fabulous life. I will tell her how she is a good dog.
 
 
 


I told her she was a very, very good dog.
#adognamedSue

 

 

 

 

Ronni Salt