DAMN FINE DOG: AFTERWORD

Pey died 2 years ago today. She was a damn fine dog. And while I know that she was ‘just’ a dog, and not a person, I still miss her. I still miss our morning and evening walks, and that look of confusion she gave me when I tried to explain adjustable rate mortgages to her.

Her full name was Peyton, named for “the Glove”, Gary Payton of the Sonics. Nick named her and we still don’t know where it came from. Many people assumed she was named for the Tennessee quarterback, but I think that was due to the blank look she generally had on her face. But she also had a ton of nicknames: Poochie, McPoochie, Mayor McPoochie and McGee most prominent. I called her McGee. It was a thing we had. Perhaps being called so many different names explained her looks of confusion.

Nick had gone to look at puppies with a friend, Pey ran to him, and the rest is history. My wife called her a ‘college dog that we inherited’, and I don’t think that was always said with affection. But she came to love Pey. Pretty much. But she was always good to her, remembering to feed her a bowl of chicken on her birthday. It was a thing they had.

Peyton had a succession of family members as caretakers -Nick, Matt, Katharine – finally living with us, and ultimately settling at the beach. She loved the beach, but applying suntan lotion to her was tough. And the only thing worse than a sunburned dog is living with a sunburned dog.

Dogs do so much to bolster our spirits, because they always make you think they are glad to see you – like a more sincere politician. But for me, it was even better to spend time with a companion who was physically decaying faster than I was. If my leg(s) hurt, I remembered that her hips were worse. If I couldn’t hear what someone said, I was cheered by the fact that Pey couldn’t hear a damn thing (as we walked the beach and other dogs barked crazily at her, she would appear to be coolly indifferent. I believe the other dogs suffered from “little dog envy”). If I read something that confused me, I would look at her looking more confused, and feel better. It is a general rule of life that someone always has it worse, and Pey was that for me at the end.

But not everything was great between us. As her eyesight failed, she kept borrowing my cheaters, and weirdly stretching them out. And she often solved the jumble or daily crossword puzzle before I could get to it. And while I could never prove it, I believe she cheated at cards (if she were here, she would defend it as a way to deal with her lack of opposable thumbs).

But all that is forgotten now. Today is a day to remember a DFD and a valued family member. Hopefully she is in dog Heaven enjoying a bowl of chicken as we speak. And if she’s really lucky, with GRAVY! She loved Gravy. Don’t we all?

Woof on McGee….