At the Rainbow Bridge: Doogie
Doogie (SRV-Aellen's Noble Scot) crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on Saturday, February 26, 2005. He was four months shy of his 16th birthday.
Doogie
came to our household in 1997, as a
rehome from Washington State. Kathy Greenleaf was the NWBCCPS
liaison to Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue
back then, and she made it possible for the old bugger to fly east to live
with us.
Doogie always had a bit of the troublemaker in him. He had limited tolerance for any other creature in the universe, except for Charlie. He bullied Duncan, and tried to dominate all other dogs he met. Maryann Groves's Brechin was the only other dog he ever respected. When she told him to stop acting up, he'd straighten right up and answer, "Yes, ma'am."
In spite of that, he was always amazingly gentle with Charlie. When Charlie was a puppy, he selected Doogie as his own favorite chew toy. For some months afterward, Doogie couldn't go anywhere without a puppy attached to an ear, or his tail, or a hind leg. He also adored children, and would let them climb on him and pull his fur. He bore it all with a huge Doogie smile.
Doogie wasn't interested in dog sports, but he managed to find ways to stay
amused nonetheless. He figured out how to open the pantry and the cabinets
to steal food out of them, so they had to be bungie-corded shut. All the screen
doors had to be locked, because he could open any door that didn't have a
doorknob. He knocked over trashcans, so our kitchen wastebasket was relocated
to the garage. He was an escape artist par excellence, but he only did so
for sport -- and so he could knock over the neighbors' trashcans. He also
had a penchant for hunting, which he satisfied on his escapes from the fenced
yard by heading for our pond and catching and eating the frogs.
He loved toys, especially anything that rolled, squeaked, played music, or dispensed little bits of kibble. When he received a new noisy toy, he'd squeak it over and over and over and over until Charlie grew sick of the noise and killed the squeaker. He adored his Buster Cube, and was deeply disappointed when we moved to a house that was mostly carpeted, since it cut down on his "rolling territory."
It was astonishing how much old age mellowed him. We knew he was getting old
when we adopted a cat, and Doogie was friendly to her. A younger Doogie would
have chased her into next week. He had always been camera-shy, but he tolerated
having his picture taken. After Duncan died, Doogie took over the position
of Official Velcro Dog, so that no matter where I went, I always felt his
big, cold, rubber dog nose in the backs of my knees.
Sadly, time caught up with the old monster at the end. He grew steadily weaker over time, until he was no longer able to stand. At that point, the kindest thing to do was to free him from his tired old body, so he was sent gently over the Bridge on Saturday afternoon.
I hope that as a last act of pure Doogie defiance, that he knocked over a couple of trashcans on his way there.
Want to see more pictures of Dougal?
