Dogs really are a man’s best friend.

Ginger is not an early riser, in fact by the time he gets up, Nutmeg has generally finished her work-out, done the laundry and been to the grocery store before he gets up.  To be really clear, there are about two things he will get up early for; downhill skiing (never cross-country) and flying.  Yesterday, started with an early morning call to say that Skoki our 14.5 year old black lab was not well.  Ginger bolted out of bed and tried to set a land speed record driving to Canmore to see his dog.  She was not well, although a trip to the vet seemed to lift her energy a little bit, it was not for long.

Skoki was born in Leduc, just outside Edmonton.  Ginger convinced Nutmeg to go for a drive one snowy Saturday, 14 years ago.  Nutmeg was pretty sure of two things; you do not drive to Edmonton “just for fun” and no dog lover in their right mind goes to “just look” at puppies.  The long and short, naturally, was that Skoki made the trip back south on Highway Two to Calgary.  She started in the back seat of the Jetta, which lasted for about 5 minutes.  A which point, Nutmeg succumbed to maternal pressure and Skoki sat in the front seat on Nutmeg’s lap for the rest of the trip to her new home (and was pretty proud of herself for scoring the first point). :- )

From the very start, Skoki was what one might describe as a wee bit headstrong.  Early day walks looked a lot like Ginger or Nutmeg dragging a small creature, who was pretty determined that she did not want to walk down an icy sidewalk.  She had selective hearing from day one, unless of course food was involved and then she had excellent ears.  Skoki was a loyal companion for dog walks, runs and mountain hikes.  Most of all she just loved people, although was pretty careful with handing out her affection.

Ginger has been away at school for the last 10 months and arrived back home just two weeks ago.  Skoki stood guard for that whole time, she made sure her mistress (Nutmeg), her dog-mate (Jade) and the house were safe and sound.  She knew her time was short and her master was now home for good, she could tell because the piles of his stuff had started to accumulate.  Skoki said her good-byes yesterday to her best friends.  Early this morning, it was clear she was not going to regain her strength nor her lovable spunk.  Nutmeg took her for a drive to see the mountain views in Canmore and then she said good-bye for good.

We will miss our good friend but know that she is somewhere close-by,  pretending to ignore us.

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Food Travel Tags:
Travel Tips with Pets, Travel with Dogs