Yesterday I lost one of the best friends that I have ever had. She was one of a kind.
She always wanted to be with me wherever I went. I can remember how excited she got when she saw me getting my duck hunting gear together because she knew that the next morning we would be off for an adventure! She could hardly sleep.
She was so trainable that I almost think that she could read my mind. She knew what I wanted and she just did it. She was very eager to please.
Bobby trained her to catch a treat off of her nose in the air. He would lay it in between her eyes and she would give it a little flip and then catch it. And she did that same trick for me yesterday morning.
Andrew taught her how to “give you five”. She would do it with anyone!
In her earlier days she would dive off of the diving board and swim in the pool. A couple of weeks ago I asked her to sit in the water on the steps of the pool with me because it was so hot. All of a sudden she just floated out and took a lap around the pool. I believe that she was really proud of herself and she was thinking that she still had it!
Chelsy didn’t have a mean bone in her body and she loved everyone. And I believe that everyone loved her. She will be greatly missed.
Tribute to a dog:
“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his DOG. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground,where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wing and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast into the cold, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard him against danger, and to fight against his enemies. When the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.”
-Senator George Vest, 1870.
