Rest in Peace Old Friend

March 1, 2011

By Wayne Mates

The first time our eyes met she was not quite 3 years old.  She bounded into my arms and licked my face.  An English Springer Spaniel came into my life and became my constant companion and friend.  Her previous owner had no choice but to give her up for adoption.  Bri had spent 3 weeks in a kennel before we found each other.

Before taking her home we “tried” to go for a walk.  She had obviously not been leash trained for she was a wild girl with no sense that a leash meant you couldn’t just keep running!  No rules for her!!  We were kindred spirits!  On the way home she lay on a blue blanket and just looked at me.  That was 13 years ago and until the day she died, she slept with that blue blanket.  Although today it is threadbare, torn and disintegrating, it was her favorite possession.  All I can think of is Linus with his security blanket.

For the first year or so, Bri seldom left my side, following me everywhere.  She would nap at my feet or just rest her head on my lap.  She was a happy girl.  And, I was happy to have her nearby.  In the early years, Bri hated to see me leave the house and drive off in “her” truck! I think she was afraid I was going to leave her.

Being a Springer she was full of energy and loved to run and swim.  She would swim for hours at a time and never tire.  She once chased a flock of ducks a couple hundred yards out into the lake.  I feared she would drown being out that far, but she turned around and swam back to shore.  Bri loved to chase tennis balls thrown from the dock.  She would run, leap from the dock and fly through the air to retrieve them.

When she tired of swimming, she would chase chipmunks.  She never caught one but there are plenty of holes in the yard to show she tried.  Although a hunter by breed, she was not a very good one. Bri was much better hunting food in the kitchen.  There was the time she jumped up and swiped a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of the hand of a very surprised 5 year old.  And, it was not unusual to find her sitting or standing on the table looking for food.

She would disappear for runs in the woods with one of the other dogs.  When the two of them “escaped”, they just took off and ran.  At times I could see her springing back and forth over high stone walls.  When they returned muddy, wet, scraped and bruised, they never said where they had been.  But, I knew it was a great adventure!

She was a terrible rider.  She would not sit still in a boat and preferred to jump overboard and swim back to be pulled in so she could do it all over again.  When she rode in a vehicle the windows had to be up.  If they were down she would jump out the window and run ahead.  She only did that once!!  Fortunately, she was not hurt.

Bri was a wily, smart dog with selective hearing.  When she made her mind up she was going swimming, she would dash out the door like she was going for a run in the woods and circle back and plunge into the water as if no one would know she “decided” she needed to swim.  When she returned to the house, she would look at me with those sad eyes as if to say, “Who? Me?”

Bri was a loving dog, not unlike others, who would curl up at my feet and just be.  She would also protect her house from the UPS, FedEx and mail folks as well as any other turkeys that wandered into her yard.  In her last year or so, she depended on the other dogs to alert her to strangers as her hearing started to fail.

Her last few days were hard for both of us.  We both knew what was coming.  She began to refuse food and finally water. She was content to lie by my side to be patted and to have her belly rubbed.

Lady Brianna III will be sorely missed.  She was my best friend, confidant and will always be remembered as a loyal and trusting friend.  Her ashes will be scattered across the lake and land that she loved.  Rest in Peace old friend….