Bruno

I'd like to introduce you to Bruno.

I don't know where this picture was taken. One of my very earliest memories is of Bruno as a puppy high-tailing it under the bed. He went to the bathroom in the house and was about to receive the wrong end of the newspaper for his trouble.

Bruno, was a medium-sized, muscle-bound, death machine if you didn't know him. I saw him snap the neck of a ground hog who had the audacity to take up residence in the back-yard. He grabbed that ground hog, shook his head (very effectively breaking the things neck), dropped it and never looked back.

Sometimes people would use our yard as a through way to the mall. Once Bruno chased a couple of guys back they way they'd come. One of them didn't make it. Below is a picture of what used to be my side yard as a kid. The gate at the back is where Bruno caught the perp.

We pounded a spike into the ground and attached a log chain around Bruno's neck to make sure he couldn't pull it out. I saw him break that huge chain. I know it doesn't sound real, like something out of a Homer poem, but he broke it, sure.

When he was young my Dad tested him. My Dad wrapped a towel around his arm and let Bruno bite him, I guess to see what it was like. It wasn't very smart. My Dad dropped to his knees instantly. Bruno loved my Dad, he let him go instantly.

I threw many tennis balls that Bruno brought back covered in slobber from frothing jowls; it was disgusting. The slobber drops would hang down after drinking water and I remember pulling my legs up to get away from him.

I loved Bruno and one day when I came home and my Mom said he had run away we went looking for him. After a short while I didn't buy what my Mom was selling. Bruno was aged. He didn't walk or see well. When you let him out to go the bathroom he went and came right back in. Bruno was past running away, he was past living well. We were never as faithful to him as he was to us. He was a good friend and companion. In the end, he either died quietly or my Mom had him put down. Either way that old friend will always be remembered and loved. I hope I'll see him again. I'd give a great deal to throw him a few more tennis balls.