“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.”
—George Graham Vest

Is there any more joyful Latin descriptive term than canis familiaris domesticus (the common canine)?

The news was bad, but not entirely unexpected. I had been waiting for the telephone call and hoping against hope that the veterinarian had conducted the additional tests out of an abundance of caution, but I was wrong.

Is there any crueler Latin term than canine osteosarcoma (canine bone cancer)?

The tests confirmed that initial prognosis was correct. The dog had not simply fallen down the steps and broken its hind leg. The clean break was the result of bone cancer.

The prognosis and the veterinary medical options available were not optimistic. There were no guarantees whatsoever as to successful outcomes. It was deemed prudent that we prepare ourselves for the inevitability of the disease metastasizing and make our final goodbyes. To spare the animal further pain and suffering it would have to be euthanized within a few days time.

When the call came, I was stoic, but as the afternoon wore on and evening approached my cheeks were wet. I had been looking at photographs that I had taken of the dog when we were walking through the park opposite the North Shore Channel. The film was developed not so many months ago in happier times.

My mind repeatedly turned to eloquent closing argument made by the plaintiff’s counsel in the celebrated case of Burden v. Hornsby. Lawyer George Graham Vest eulogized the plaintiff’s prized foxhound, “Old Drum,” which had been shot and killed by a neighbor.The jurors awarded the dog’s owner fifty dollars in damages (equal to $820.00 today’s currency and a very considerable sum of money in 1870 when the case was tried). This was the maximum judgment possible under the applicable court rules and the verdict was affirmed on appeal.

Within a few years, Vest was chosen by the state legislature to represent Missouri in the US Senate. A bronze statute of Old Drum was eventually placed in the courthouse square of Warrensburg, Missouri.The title of this article and the quotation above are both excerpted from Vest’s brilliant address to the jury (the full text of Vest’s speech can be found at:
http://www.warrensburg.org/old_drum%20vc.htm (http://www.warrensburg.org/old_drum%20vc.htm) ).

Having been adopted from the animal shelter, our border collie needed to be house broken. It was suggested that before it was taken to the pound, the dog had survived on the streets for a period of time and it had learned to behave like a skilled beggar. For sometime after it was taken into my sister and brother-in-law’s home, the black and white dog would continue to scrape and bow before newcomers and visitors as it had done when it was looking for a hand out of food. It had to be taught to drink water from bowls and not from mud puddles.

I was instantly impressed with the dog and it took to me at the same time. I looked after it whenever I could.

On one such early visit, my mother’s first cousin, an ordained Franciscan priest who has spent his life performing missionary work in Africa and South America, was visiting my sister’s home. We were finishing our meal in the dining room when we discovered that the newly adopted dog had placed its two front paws on the kitchen table in the next room and was happily eating the freshly baked apple pie that was to be served for our dessert. My sister had placed the pie pan on the table to cool. The priest rolled up a newspaper and proceeded to chase the rascal out of the kitchen. We all laughed at the comical scene. My sister asked the priest what would St. Francis of Assisi think of his behavior? He replied that it is possible for love and discipline to coexist and we would do well to learn this lesson.

Border collies are highly intelligent dogs that are raised to work on farms and are used to herd sheep.

Unfortunately, many border collies end up being abandoned or placed for adoption when urban dwellers cannot commit to providing their carelessly chosen pets with enough exercise and activities to keep the animals content. You must work with a border collie and provide it with constant attention or the dog will begin working on strategies of its own to gain your complete and undivided attention. Not all border collies are friendly to small children. Some dogs instinctively want to herd children like sheep and will nip at their heels if the toddlers run amok or if they make too much noise.

Nevertheless, as soon as my nephew started drawing at school, the dog always figured in his crayon depictions of his family alongside of his parents and his two younger sisters.

Although the dog belonged to my sister’s family, it frequently visited my home during their vacation trips and school holidays. Over time the dog became increasingly devoted to me, possibly because it could push my buttons and successfully demand lengthy walks, morning, noon and night. When I visited with my nephew and nieces, the dog sensed my presence almost immediately upon my entry onto the property. It did not matter if the dog was in the basement and I was on the first floor or outside of the house. I cannot explain it other than to say it just knew when I was in the vicinity. It would bark for me until I took it for a walk. On my last visit, one week ago, the dog’s behavior was exactly the same although it moved a bit more slowly.

One fine Sunday morning, I was reading “The Chicago Tribune” when the dog demanded my attention. I was preoccupied with the newspaper until the dog rose up on its hind legs and stretched out its forepaw and knocked the newspaper out of my hands and onto the floor. I laughed out loud at the spectacle not only because the dog had won the argument and we were going for yet another walk in the park, but because I thought that the animal had passed its own editorial judgment on the merits of the world’s formerly greatest newspaper simultaneously.

Last summer, when I was convalescing after surgery, I was grateful that I had the dog as a house guest. It was good therapy for me when I was at low ebb. I have had other dogs and pets before, but this one was really something special.

The supply of plastic bags that I had stockpiled for clean up purposes in advance of the anticipated July visit of my canine friend will be recycled.

There isn’t any reason to save steak bones in the freezer now. I will not be walking in the park this summer unless I choose to walk the familiar paths alone.

It has become commonplace for sentimentalists to point to the fact that the anagram of “dog” refers to the Almighty. I would note, however, that my sister had the foresight to name this particular dog “Angel.” A truer and more appropriate name could not have been chosen for this noble canine specimen.

For a decade and a half, I thought that I was the one holding the leash, butnow I know the truth is that an angel was leading me. I will be there when her eyes are closed for the last time.

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Daniel J. Kelley is a contributor to “The Chicago Daily Observer.”