Miles' heyday comes to an end

I can’t believe it. It finally came. I kept thinking that it was going to be sometime “in the future,” but it seems that the future, it haz arrived. Yesterday we took a small walk in the forest reserve. It’s a fairly well-manicured trail, nothing difficult, you don’t need more than tennis shoes or, hell, flip-flops to walk it (at least the first 3 miles out, which is well beyond where we stopped). Miles huffed and puffed since shortly after we hit the pavement walkin’, and last night I noticed him suddenly not putting weight on one of his back legs. This morning, I found him huddled outside sleeping under the truck (which one is not important here, OK? Stop asking these questions of me, people!), and I had to drag him out.

So Miles’ last day as an active puppy dog – it’s here. Only took 13 years, but it’s here. I guess we got this house just in time then: he now has a nice place to retire to. A porch to sit on and talk about how in his day, he had to make the tennis balls before he could chase ‘em, whittle them out of knotted pine, for christ’s sake, OK? Why back in his day, he had to run, uphill, both ways for 10 miles just to get the newspaper. And running away? Don’t get him started. He used to have to scale 20ft tall chain link, with barbed wire. Oh and people walked their dogs around with collars made of hot iron ore, still molten.

I may have gotten off track there. But the important thing to take away is, Miles’ heyday is dead; long live Miles.

:-(