Dog

Man's Best Friend

Kermit was a great dog.

I say "was" because Kermit has finally gone for that last long walk to heaven. I'm sure he's asking the good Lord if he can have just one more cookie.

He gave our family the kind of boundless boundless love and affection that dogs are famous for but he did something more. He proved that something good can come out of France.

I'll never forget taking Kermit out back of our house in France to repair a hole under the fence. I was sure he had escaped through that hole the night before. I looked up from the work and he was magically on the other side of the fence wagging his tail and smiling at me. And I knew he didn't go through the hole. I changed sides and called to him. He leaped over the fence like a gazelle. Later he gained notoriety at a kennel for somehow escaping over a 10 foot stone wall. In France, he was known as Le Sauteur (The jumper.)

He could sit, sit up, shake hands, beg, lie down, roll over, even play dead although he was the most alert dead dog you could ever imagine. He could do the tricks on command and sometimes if you were a little slow he would just go ahead and do the trick to remind you what was supposed to come next.

When he was young he used to catch flies and kill them. He tried this trick on a bee once and wasn't all that happy with the result!

His most memorable animal moment was the time that I had him out for a ride and I saw an elephant in an elephant trailer (imagine a really big horse trailer). I took Kermit over for a look. We got fairly close before he realized it was alive. He just froze. After a few moments he put his tail between his legs and slowly backed away. Finally, I had discovered what size animal he didn't think he could whip!

If you sprayed a little perfume or mens cologne on the carpet, he would go crazy rubbing the side of his head on the spot. Didn't bother him a bit that everyone in the rooms was in hysterics. He just wanted to smell nice I guess.

He was a smart dog. He figured out how to open the pocket doors between our bedroom and a sitting room. He always used the sitting room as his gym. He would go in every morning and roll around and make attack dog noises just to keep himself in fighting trim.

He could also count to two. If you gave him one cookie he would wait for the second but once he had two, he would go off to his corner unable to keep track of a higher number.

Speaking of his corner, he would go there to tell you he wanted a cookie. If he wanted to go out, he would stand in front of you and stare. And if his water bowl was empty, he would slide it around util you filled it to the brim.

In the last few years we finally decided that with his poor eyesight and poor hearing he could be allowed to roam outside which he dearly loved. We are so glad we made that decision. He always checked out the yard, sniffed some random flower for 10 minutes and returned with a happy little bark to get back in.

Kermit was a great dog.

Would you like to see Kermit with Santa?

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email: bleahy@mindspring.com