Goodbye Axle

Our dog Axle died today. He was our dog for less than two years, but he certainly became a part of our farm and family in that time.

 He was always at our side, walking all over the farm, providing protection to our cats and chickens, keeping us company, giving us a sense of security.

 But today, after being his usual cheerful-self, after eating his usual breakfast, saying good-bye to each of us as we left for the day, he curled up in his favorite pile of leaves and died. Levi and I raked that pile on Saturday, Levi put flags around it for fun, and Axle had spent most of his outside-sleeping time in that pile the last few days.

 The skid steer took Axle to his final resting place. I was so sad, but the fact that the boys and I were following a skid steer to bury Axle did make me chuckle. All along with Axle, we've found ourselves bouncing back and forth from "He's a dog....." to "Well, we don't want him to be too cold/hungry/miserable/in pain." Never able to keep him firmly in the category of "farm dog" but instead constantly allowing him to be one of us.

 One hundred steers were in attendance as we said farewell. No, we didn't sing any songs or say any prayers. It was surprising to me that Levi suddenly popped out with, "You mean we can't see Axle again?!" with tears running down his cheeks. That prompted us all to tears for a little bit, then the moment passed. It was like we just needed that one last cry.

I have to admit, I've shed more tears over this dog then I ever thought I would. He was the perfect first dog for our family. He taught us to love dogs, or at least he showed us how easy it was to love him.