The Old Dogs' Club

Lately, I've been thinking about The Old Dog's Club. When I first moved to Southeast Seminole Heights, I would take my Shepherd/Chow mix, Kodiak, for walks around the 'hood. First, we met Lala, also a Shepherd/Chow mix. While Kodiak looked more like a German Shepherd, Lala looked more like a small fuzzy Chow Chow. Then we met Rebel, a tall, lanky dog of indeterminate lineage. After that, we would say hi to Blackie, a black Shepherd mix, who could jump so high his people had to put six-foot tall chainlink gate across the driveway where Blackie liked to hang out. And so, day after day, week after week, year after year, Kodiak (and later my Border Collie, Sully, as well) would visit our dog friends. I watched as these dogs grew old together. Toward the end of the journey, the Old Blind Girl (I didn't know her real name) came to live with Rebel. She would charge the fence and bang right into it, but it didn't seem to faze her. First, Blackie passed on. The six-foot chainlink gate was replaced with a four-foot gate. Then it was Rebel, and shortly after that, the Old Blind Girl. One day, Lala was no longer in her yard and her people told me they had to put her down. So it became that Kodiak was the only living member of The Old Dogs' Club, and he had to be put down a few months after Lala left this earth. I like to think that all the members of The Old Dogs' Club are hanging out like dogs do in that great dog heaven in the sky. I hope they let Sully join them, even though he was not an official member of the club. I wish I had taken photographs of all the dogs, but I didn't, so now The Old Dogs' Club is just a nice memory of a time when I walked the neighborhood with my dog(s).