Departure of two lovely pet dogs/Carlos Pueblo

 

Departure of two lovely pet dogs/Carlos Pueblo

Suddenly Chance and Daschle are moving out of their house at the corner of Olympia and Stoneford because the owner wants to put the house on the market for sale. They have to follow the owner’s son to move away to an apartment. They are my favorite dog friends in the neighborhood. They are the Border Collie or the Australian Shepherd. Chance used to be belonged to Jim, the owner, while Daschle is his son’s. They are brothers in the same litter. When I walk by the house, Chance would come to the side gate to bark at me and latter Daschle joins in as a pack. I asks the owner formally introducing me to Chance and he becomes my friend and allow me to pet him and so is Daschle when he latter moves in with the owner’s son.

I used to provide old tennis balls for the dogs to play until the room mate of the son stops me due to the concern of the dogs’ gum, yet I am still allowed to greet them. At the old time, both dogs remember that I am the tennis ball man and carry the bit up ball toward me for playing. When I pass the house in day dreaming, they would bark at me in loud voices to get my attention. After February this year, I extend my morning walk and passing by their house before the sun rises, they still bark at me far away on the Olympia.

I feel that they are very lonely. The owners don’t have time to take them to walk and can only play at the back yard around a swimming pool. During the winter time, they can get in to the garage for a shelter. Diana tells me a story about the lonely Chance. She once felt bad for Chance and texted a phone message to Jim’s daughter for help. She was her daughter’s classmate. The situation was improved temporarily yet returned to the same soon after. She blames that Jim’s date of a girlfriend not far away. It is not my business really that I only care about our friendship. When I pass by the house, I always come closed to chat with them even with another dog’s company. They would patiently wait for my attention.

This is why I don’t like to have a dog that I don’t like the moment of the departure. It is a kind of suffering, a suffering of the mankind as the Buddha’s description like the birth, the aging, the sickness, and the death. Jim comforts me that his son’s new apartment in downtown is closed to a dog park and dogs will be alright after all. I am thinking of the other way. I must write it down for my memory.