Proxima Canis Mortuus Est!

Sic Transit Gloria Muttface

My neigbors planted Muttface in their front yard this afternoon...

Muttface was Susie's dog, and a more homely pit/boxer mongrel has never existed. I'm sure that Susie is inconsolable tonight. Susie is my neighbor's daughter, who's a person with Down's Syndrome. She was a happy child, but her personality has darkened over the years. As she's watched her siblings grow up and move out, it seems that she's less & less content with her life at home. Unfortunately, she's just not at a level where she can function on her own, and even a group home would likely be a struggle for her.

Muttface & Susie were a common sight walking up and down the street and around the cul-de-sac. On days where Susie was feeling under the weather, Muttface roamed around on her own, and even when she annoyed me by frequently crapping in my yard, she rarely failed to run over and joyfully slobber on me whenever I pulled in the driveway and got out of my truck. I enjoyed rubbing her volleyball-sized head and telling her what a perfectly ugly dog she was. Despite her pit bull ancestry, I've rarely met a more mild-mannered dog. She was as sweet as she was homely.

I didn't think Muttface was that old or in bad health, but sometimes these things just happen. I won't miss the piles of puppy poo, but I'll miss Muttface.

Who knows? Maybe a dogwood will sprout over her grave!