Murphy The White Wonder Dog

Most of you know Murphy who is 15 now, deaf and blind in one eye and the other is slowly going. It is a hard thing for me to deal with. I have to put my dog down. He is very stiff though doesn't cry in any pain so far. He is my best friend ,he's been with me every day riding in the truck from job to job and only misses on Sunday's when we go to church, but even that has changed, he comes most Sundays. He is a pure bred red heeler that stayed white from birth. H e loves the sunshine and the grass, he loved killing cats and has had his fair share in the destruction of many gopher communities. Those were his only vice. He loves us unconditionally and I didn't realize or appreciate that until I had cancer. I would lay on the couch and drop my hand down and he would be there, I would go to bed and he's jump on and sleep by me. He never demanded going outside to do his business until Deb got home from work. He never left my side. He ran away once when we lived near Cardston and we were about to move a few days later, we searched the whole town but had no luck until a friend Jimmy Clarke found him and called me up. When we got there Murphy barked and barked at us ....Pretty sure he was giving us heck for leaving him. I appreciated Jim for that, he was a good friend. When Murphy was a pup he loved to chew things like the backs out of debbies shoes and the adjustable plastic bands in the back of baseball caps of mine. He learned quickly and was always looking to please. He couldn't be bothered with the whole fetch thing though. When we lived on the US/Canadian border I went on a business trip and when I got back deb told me he had killed one turkey for everyday I was gone. He was teaching me a lesson. I tied a 20 lb turkey to his 30 lb body and he drug that around for about a week until it fell off, but ya know he never touched another bird (turkeys, pheasants, chicken) after that. We had a 3/4 wolf 1/4 malamute named Smokey he was huge and towered over Murphy but Murphy was the dominate dog and smokey did what Murphy did....Unless it came to food. One time I burn't a pancake and tossed it out to the dogs. Murphy was the first one it and quickly tried to get it down. Shadow would have none of this and grabbed Murp by the head trying to shake the pancake loose and murph was not going to drop it. I came running out and stooped the one sided fight. cooked a few more pancakes for them and they went away together happy with their spoils. One time Murphy and shadow had an antelope trapped in a corner of fencing, murph went in for the kill and got hoofed in the rib cage and was left with a pretty nice gash. Murphy loves the water, loves sitting in the bow of a canoe just watching quietly as nature floated by, he has even been my passenger on a seadoo....not as fun for him, but he still went. Once when I took him on a scout trip down the North Saskatchewan he would jump into the water from my canoe to the other boys canoes all day getting treats and free pets from them, he was in his heyday. When I worked on a farm he would follow behind me on the swather and pick off the mice as we downed the field then he'd jump in the cab with me after gorging himself and lay the rest of the day looking out the window and farting mouse gas. It was awful. I worked on an ostrich ranch and he would run back and forth through the ostrich pens and the birds would chase him. It must have been a game for him because he and the neighbor dog Pedro were often scolded for doing it. When we moved to Grande Prairie he became the guard at the door when I painted houses. Wouldn't let anyone in. When we moved back to Edmonton he became the guard dog at a storage facility where he met one of his concubines, another blue heeler named Zowie, and they made beautiful puppies together. Zowie was hit by a car a few years late and loved my dad. Murphy also sired puppies through Blue, a heeler down the road from where we lived and then through Sarah, a red heeler I also owned. I am not sure how many Murphy genes are running out there for sure though. It was about three years ago I started noticing a change in him, started sleeping more, didn't seem as interested in going out with me. Then I noticed his hearing was going, at one time he could hear a chocolate bar wrapper at two miles. Then his eyes began clouding over. Now he is blind in one eye and the other is beginning to go. We know the day is close for him to leave us, we hope he falls a sleep and doesn't wake up because I don't want to take him to the vet to be put down, I don't want him to suffer either and we don't want to let out selfish motives to prevent what has to be done. We never gave him pills to prolong life because it won't make him younger. He is my best friend he has never let me down, he's forgiven me for everything I ever did to him, he loves unconditionally, he has many many friends...Probably more than I do. Everyone liked him. We have a picture of him on the Piano that Matt took in Grand prairie, probably at his prime, head held high tail stub extended tall and proud. That's how I want to remember him when he goes. I've picked a place to bury him, it's the edge of a deep valley overlooking beautiful tree's and alot of squirrels. It will be a good resting place for him I love him and I guess me writing is what they call closure. Do all good dogs go to heaven? I know they do!