Bye bye, Chance

Very close to this time 2 years ago, I wrote about my neighbor Tony and his American Bulldog, Chance. I have such fond memories of his big old lumbering dog and the sweet relationship she had with our Little Dog. They were most certainly a “Mutt and Jeff” pair as they trotted side by side down the road together.

I had intended to do an essay earlier this summer about the dogs we see when we take our walk and how most of them bark furiously at us as we pass by their houses, and in the early Spring I started collecting pictures of these dogs. The star of the essay was going to be the little rat dog that Tony also has. He is an excitable little fellow...

who barks hysterically when he see us with that high-pitched, annoying bark that little dogs usually have.

When we pass Tony's yard on our walks, we always look for Chance to see what she is up too, but we hadn't seen Chance in the yard lately. Tony had taken the door off of crawlspace under his house so Chance go in there where it was cool. We figured that was where she was. 

When we passed Tony’s house on a walk late yesterday afternoon, he was mowing his lawn. We stopped to visit for a bit. He asked after our boy. We asked after Chance.

“ I had to put Chance to sleep,” he said. “She was 10 years old and really sick. I cried for a week afterward.”

I can sure relate.

She was a good dog; a very good dog. I am going to miss her big old self and her deep rumbly “woofy” voice when she saw us.

I am sure she is in doggy heaven right now taking a stroll with our Little Dog.