To his last moment, Tugboat, the yellow Lab, wagged his tail. Lying in the room, when the veterinarian he knew well entered holding the lethal syringe, Tug wagged his tail.
The Phantom thought of Billy Budd, shouting out from the scaffold, "God Save Captain Vere!"
Tugboat was one of those rare creatures who was all joy, no bite. In the 13 years and two weeks of his life, he never bit another dog or any person. Over the course of his life, he growled 6 times, barked about 3 times, and we never knew why. He had his doggie reasons. Mostly he wagged his otter tail and smelled stuff rapturously. He knew his rules and his schedule and stuck to it. He loved people more than dogs, but he loved both.
He died a week before the beginning of what would have been his 14th summer.
Oral mucocutaneous melanoma in a dog carries a prognosis of 65 days, and he lasted 90, but it was clear he could have gone longer. Toward the end, he struggled to be joyful, and just when you thought he could not rise again, he would surprise you with a sprightly gait, at least for a few yards.
But on that last day, he kept collapsing into the grass, getting up, walking a few steps and collapsing again, panting and wagging his tail.
So his captain made the decision to bring that very gooBoy to the scaffold and end it. He could have lasted longer, no doubt, but either way, it was going to be hard to witness.
What spelled doom for Billy was he stabbed in the heart.
Tugboat did the same, without ever resorting to violence.
He was a very GooBoy.
.JPG)
Phantom,
ReplyDeleteThere’s much truth in the words Lord Byron had engraved on the tomb of his own gooboy —“..all the virtues of Man without his vices”. Indeed. That’s a sentiment held by all those who have had the good fortune of sharing their life with a noble canine companion. Who else besides one’s dog is so consistently delighted at our arrival and so sadly dejected at our departure…now that’s loyalty!
Your Tug was a lucky dog who led a charmed life-one infinitely more comfortable than a large portion of the human population on the planet. He enjoyed wonderful care and great affection all his days. There’s no doubt that in his final moments, had he been able to speak, like Billy Budd, but for much different reasons, he too would have said “God bless you”…
Maud
You are, as always, too kind
ReplyDeletePhantom