Photo-Finish Friday --Scamp and Pal

This has always been one of my favourite pictures. The dogs, Scamp (foreground) and Pal (background) posed for it. They'd been that way for a while when mom saw them and thought it would make a nice picture. She was right.
It's October, probably 1966. The air was crisp, the day was overcast, the Ford Fairlane 500 was parked neatly in front of the house, and the dogs were still full of energy.
They were friends. They ran circles together around the school bus and any other vehicle that moved, swam in the creek, sang with the coyotes, and occasionally play fought until they were tired. When that time came one would lie back and expose his throat while the other pretended to rip it out.
While Pal was long-suffering and consented to be mauled by children, ridden, used as a pillow, and even hitched to a sled once, Scamp was the watcher. He was given more to chasing and we even saw him point at the cluster of rose bushes near the old house once.
I don't think Scamp ever got his due. He was a good dog, and a good friend.
They've been gone a long time. It'll be 40 years in the fall right about the same time of year as that photo was taken. Scamp first, then Pal moped around for three weeks before joining him.
No matter how many pets have come after them, they were the first and they'll always be the best.

Gratitude Monday – Patient Pets and Good Memories

Our dog Pal, who the always entertaining Bag Lady wrote about in this post was as patient and long-suffering as a dog could be.
In summer I’d use him as a pillow whenever I wanted a nap in the sun. He was my pretend horse sometimes, too, and would let me ride him for a few feet anyway. And when my sister and I were very young we tried to see if he’d be a good sled dog.
If memory serves it didn’t go over all that well with him.
Pal died just before my 12th birthday. He disappeared and we didn’t know what happened. I found him the following spring. He was on his way to the creek and had taken the shortcut through the bush.
He was an old dog then and he’d served us well. I am grateful to have had such patient, kind dog. And I have to say I’m grateful that he died out in the bush going about his normal day. I like to believe he kept on running.