A good friend of ours passed away a short while ago from a
complication of health issues but most relating to old age. Sometimes the body
just wants to give up and end the long passage of time when memories of
youthful legs and a strong heart are far too distant.
The friend was our dog ‘Pebbles’ who had been a mainstay of
the household since 1995 when our daughters fell in love with the Golden
Retriever at a Christmas parade in the city of Victorville. Pebbles had been
busy leading a group of youngsters down the wide boulevard advertising the need
to adopt abused and uncared for animals.
You see, Pebbles was one of those animals. A beautiful
golden haired female canine with the brightest dark brown eyes, penciled black
lines about her eyes like an Egyptian Pharaoh, and a majesty that made one
wonder how anyone could have been cruel to her but cruel they had been and here
she was prancing down the street in front of PALS. A non-profit agency which took in unwanted animals
and gave them to families in want of man’s best friend ensuring they would not
be harmed again.
The idea of someone intentionally
harming an animal is hard to imagine but unfortunately it does happen on quite
a regular basis and then it is agencies such as above which lends a helping
hand bringing some sanity to these abused animals by finding them good homes.
Pebbles was such a dog! At one year old she came bounding
into a family who loved animals. Into a family who understood the close bonds
which a dog can bring with them and to share with the pack.
Dogs are pack animals whose only job is to protect, love,
and care for those around them. Of course, stories can be read about those
aberrations within the canine world of animals turned killers but that is
generally caused by an indecent owner with a perverse sense of hatred.
Dogs are humans’ closest allies.
To prove this point one only needs to look at ancient burial
practices. According to Darcy Moray, zoo archaeologist from the
University of Tennessee at Martin, the oldest convincing case occurred "In
Germany, about 14,000 years [ago]. Not only was the dog buried, it was part of
a human double grave," (Archaeology, November 8, 2006). Furthermore, Moray continues, the oldest evidence of this
human/canine bond in North America is between 9000 and 10,000 years old, with
dog burials documented from every major land mass in the world except
Antarctica.
There is no doubt dogs are close to humans being first
domesticated from wolves roughly 15,000 years ago and that bond has simply
grown stronger through the eons, leaving an almost inseparable bond between the
two species.
Even Wikipedia – the "go-to" place for anything knowledgeable
within reason: “Many scientists believe that humans adopted orphaned wolf
cubs and nursed them alongside human babies.Once these early adoptees started breeding among themselves, a new generation
of tame "wolf-like" domestic animals would result which would, over
generations of time, become more dog-like.”
So, is it any wonder humans and dogs get along so famously?
It’s a social bond which stretches back through the ages leaving one the master
and the other the ever obedient and loving friend.
"Dogs are our
link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a
dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing
nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera
We bade farewell to our close friend knowing she had served
a faithful life to a loving family. A family who will never forget her and
cherish all those memories of a young Golden Retriever bounding over snow,
sand, and through the house causing all kinds of mischief to the laughter of
those who loved her.
I think I will miss the mischief the most.
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| Pebbles on Patrol Our Girl on Vacation in Yosemite |
For more information on canines please look up Christopher
Reilly’s piece on the internet: ‘Why Are Dogs Man’s Best Friend? 14,000 Years
of Companionship.’
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| We Miss You, Too, Little Fluffy One! |
