Yesterday was a sad, sad day. Since I can’t seem to write about it and see at the same time, I’m going to post here what Hubby sent to his hunting buddies, the Pudelpointer breeder and some who’d hunted over Beau.  His sentiments follow:

It is with great sadness that I send you the details of Beau’s passing.  About a month ago we noticed that he was having trouble defecating so we took him to the Vet.  During surgery he noticed that Beau had a large growth in his abdomen so we closed him up, put him on steroids and antibiotics and made him comfortable.  Over the past month, he gained weight, was active and led the life of a spoiled bird dog.  Last Thursday we took a ride on the 4-wheeler and he was alert and as always didn’t miss a bird.  Then on Friday he started taking a turn for the worse and by Saturday he was pretty much down and stayed that way until 8 a.m. this morning when our Vet made a house call and we put him to sleep.

How do you put 12 years of companionship into words?  So many days in the field, nights with him curled up by the bed, and all the times he calmed my existence by just being there.  He was a NAVHDA Prize 1 Natural Ability and Utility Dog.  I will live years longer because of the exercise I got running behind him while he tracked those racing roosters.  I often said to folks who didn’t know what an excellent upland gun dog he was that “Beau can go on point, you can go to lunch and come back and he will still be on point.”  That was not too far from the truth.

One of my hunting buddies told me that the day you get a pup you are in for a day like today.  Well, it is tough to go through but I wouldn’t trade a minute of my time with my best friend Beau.  I can’t see the keyboard very well now so I will let it go at that.

Beau, I hope you are running in tall grass, full of scent, on a crisp fall day.

My best,

F.B.

We buried Beau, wrapped in a fine percale sheet, at the back edge of the property among some trees and beside Tabitha, our cat who died at 17 last year.

He is sorely missed.