The special friendship between a neighbor and Brody, the St. Bernard

[catbyte]

[emmaverybo]

1. Thank you. Heartwarming and a happy ending! nt

[pazzyanne]

2. Absolutely love your animal posts, catbyte!

Thank you for adding heart to my day with posts like this one with Brody and Sally!

[blue cat]

3. Very nice

Thanks for posting

[Bayard]

4. This lady has a delightful laugh

And Brody so obviously tickles her. This couple is great for bringing him to visit his friend.

Thanks for the smiles, Catbyte!

[PatrickforO]

5. That really brings back memories.

I had a St. Bernard when I was a kid. His name was Hickory. He was a really good dog.

Long, long ago it is now, over fifty years.

Damn.

A half century.

I was just a kid, maybe 7 or 8 years old. We were in a little mountain town for a fourth of July picnic with our extended family. We had Hickory with us because we were going on up to the trailer we had parked on the shore of a large reservoir a few dozen miles away.

We kids panned for gold in the little stream, and we all had our picnic. Then the guns came out. No fireworks, but everyone who wanted to could shoot pistols or rifles.

We lost track of Hickory, I guess, and he never did like loud noises. The gunshots drove him crazy and he ran.

We looked and looked. I can still hear my dad's gravelly voice yelling, "Hickory, Hickory!"

Finally, they found him. He'd been hit by a car and was laying in a ditch. His hip was broken and he snapped at Mom, which he'd never have done if he wasn't in so much pain.

At a small veterinary office in a tiny mountain town, we put him to sleep because there was no fixing that hip.

I remember how we cried that day.

They talk about the Rainbow Bridge, and how we may see all the pets we've loved over our lives when we ourselves leave this world.

In the meantime, there's young Brody, making friends and sowing his own slobbery St. Bernard brand of loving among the people on his block. I'll bet he's a really good dog.