Winchester
They said he was a Wheaton Terrier mix. That is what took us across town to look at him 9 years ago. I took one look and knew that was not the case, but he jumped up on Bob’s lap and seemed content. He was two and now he was ours. We named him Winchester.
He was a funny fellow. Snuggly and aloof. Happy and grumpy. He had a terrier’s bark which he used often. I liked to think he was a Golden Lasha. He was Zen with an underbite.
Every day his joy at the thought of a walk was contagious. He would fly down the street all four feet off the ground. Looking back periodically to make sure I was having as much fun. He contemplated many bushes, rocks and trees trying to determine if they were pee worthy. I like to think they were his Facebook posts – some a quick thumbs up and others deserving of a longer message.
Bob’s chair was his own personal shopping mall. He would climb up nightly after Bob headed to bed just in case some wonderful morsels of food had found their way onto the seat. He was rarely disappointed. He was quite sad after Bob left us because the mall shut down and pickings were slim.
He weathered a badly cut pad on his left leg and then a mauled right leg from an altercation with a neighbor’s dog. He recovered nicely from both and could not wait to get back out on his neighborhood travels.
When he knew he was going to get a treat he had two approaches. The first was he always had to run counterclockwise around the island to come back to the same place he had been standing. Evidently making sure he ended up in the right place. The other was more in anticipation, he would begin to prance like a Lipizzan at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and then huff his way to his bowl to see what magic had appeared.
He inhabited my lap for hours on end. The best weighted blanket ever.
His birthday was July 11 and he turned 11. On July 12 he had the best day trotting around the block in 89-degree weather and then his big heart just gave up that night. He left as he arrived, in my lap with his sweet face full of love.
