Old Friend

I can't imagine a better dog than Juneau. Sometimes I see dogs here that look approximately like he did, but they have perkier ears, which makes them look too sassy. It's the partly-droopy ears that gave Juneau his appeal. And his ears would disappear instantly every time he saw my face, even at a distance. Putting ears down is a sign of submission and respect, and also says "I'm sweet, aren't I?"
When Juneau first showed up on our property in Indiana, we didn't want another dog. Jeshurun especially insisted we didn't need another dog, and I agreed, and assured him I wasn't feeding him. "But you're smiling at him!" Jeshurun replied. Then Jesh took Juneau down the road in his pick-up truck and dropped him off somewhere. Juneau got back before Jesh did. So we didn't adopt him, he adopted us. And we said no, no, no, yes.
Once he got hit by a car and broke all his ribs on one side. For several days after that he looked very very sad and walked very very slowly. After that he was fine, except maybe he didn't have quite as much wind as he used to.
On one pleasant Indiana night, I went outside about midnight and watched Juneau running fast in large circles in the moonlight. I think he achieved what Beethoven never did -- at least one moment of pure joy.
Juneau had one sad incident when he stepped on a bees' nest and they all started attacking him. He jumped up and down yelping and finally ran through the screen in our sliding door. I have to confess that I laughed seeing him jumping up and down. We never did replace that screen.
Juneau was a moderately smart dog, and could have learned a lot if he had had more training, especially when he was younger. When I called him, he would stop and sit in front of me. Then when I said, "Heel," he would bounce into position beside me. Since it was hard to walk with him beside me and keep him from taking off, I would walk a few paces, stop, expecting him to sit immediately, and then repeat the process. Soon he would look at me with a laughing face as if to say, "I know this game!"
He was always so good-natured, but he had a few naughty spells, such as when a kitten or a small dog got too near his food dish. He beat up and chased away a neighbor's dog, and afterwards walked around with his head high, so proud of himself, but not looking at me--he knew I was mad at him.
When he got older Ben took care of him and took him on long walks around the block (3 miles?). I had a feeling he wouldn't be around much longer when I went to Israel. He's buried without a marker, but I'll never forget him.

An old song:

Old dog Tray's ever faithful
Grief cannot drive him away.
He's gentle, he is kind;
You'll never, never find
A better friend than old dog Tray.