I miss my dog. Heinz 57 breed that we got from a no kill shelter as a pup. He was a mutt and the best couple hundered dollars I spent. He was a member of the family like many pets. The best we could figure, he was a yellow lab and collie mix . Both are herding dog genes. When he was full grown he was probably 45 lbs and stood about knee high. We got him before we had kids. Once we had kids he was in total pack animal mode. If the kids were outside, he was there patrolling the yard perimeter. When we would go to bed, he curled up at the top of the stairs and outside their bedrooms until the kids fell asleep then he would go to sleep.
When we would go for a walk, he wasn't on the leash most of the times and would walk about 40 ft ahead sniffing things and periodically look back at us humans to see if we were within range. When he was on a leash, the kids would like to hold it (one of those retractable leash things) but he never pulled. If he got to the end of the leash or if there was a slight tug or a call "Madison, stop", he'd just sit and wait for us to catch up. My kids would like to hold the leash on walks and he knew who was at the other end. He'd walk with us closer knowing that a toddler is that the other end of the leash.
He was a mutt but a pure definition of a pack animal. A member of our family that walked on 4 legs and had a built in fur coat. I had to put him down when he was about 18 yrs because his kidneys stopped working. I tried all I could to keep him alive but his kidney issues did not allow for that.
I miss Madison but we will meet him again at the Rainbow Bridge.
