Dog Tale

My good friends and neighbors  yesterday had their dog Noah Franklin pass on yesterday.  Noah was a male Aussie Shepherd that was super-smart, good natured, and a neighborhood icon.  Noah was up in years but had just received a second chance on life several months ago after he was discovered to be ill.  He was diagnosed with large abdominal tumors, that the vet removed, but his fate was uncertain.  For the past three months or so he was alert, and spry, but we all knew he was on borrowed  time. 

Last night his owners, neighbors, my wife, and myself, hung out and had a kind of an impromptu wake, consuming adult beverages and talking about Noah Franklin.  This story was related to me by Noah's owner and my guitar picking partner "Hazy Grout".

Hazy had left Noah in the care of a friend while he vacationed up north .  Almost immediately after Hazy departed, Noah had escaped and wound up incarcerated in the county pound. Now I know what you are thinking, "Poor Dog" has to spend a week or so in the pound locked up in the pound. He will probably be sold for a dog biscuit and become some mutts  "Bitch". 

Well, not so fast....

When Hazy went to pick up Noah, he encountered typical county govt. agency  bureaucracy.  It seems they could not locate a Male Black and White Aussie Shepard,  but reported  "we have Black and white female named Noah".  The un-neutered dog was locked up for almost two weeks with the female population!  Noah slept steady for three days after his return home and probably still curses Hazy for "posting his bail"!  (Told you the dog was smart.  Probably had the whole thing planed out.)

He will be missed.

This was also a topic of discussion last night, The twilight Zone episode The Hunt from 1964.