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Alfie, Rest in Peace

Alfie, our sweet and precious six years and three days of age Airedale, a wonderful companion to our family crossed the Rainbow Bridge yesterday. Over the past 12 months our canine family has lost several wonderful members and we are so sad each time it occurs. It seems to me however, that there is always one that preps the newest member and instills a desire to take the afflicted one’s place. Our beloved Apollo did that with Alfie before he passed in May. He taught her the ropes of living in the Robertson home. And she took him to heart. She was an admirable friend. She showed that when our little Labradoodle, Bennie, came calling.

We were afraid that Alfie, being so much larger, would be perhaps not so friendly. But that was not the case. No matter how much Bennie tugged on her ears, she took it all in stride. Not once did she ever cross the line with Bennie. Bennie is now four months old and growing, weighing in at almost forty pounds. Yet Alfie never so much as growled at him but a very few times. She just took all he dished out. She seemed to enjoy “roughhousing” and he teased her with whatever toy or stuffed animal he had. She always let him have his way.  We were looking forward to Alfie and Bennie having wonderful times ahead. Sadly, it is not to be.

 In her earlier years we played a game, “go find it”. I would hide treats in the trees and various places without her knowing where and call her to “go find it”. Promptly, she would locate them and devour them on the spot before running to the next tree. 

She wasn’t much of a fetch and bring kind, but she knew how to entertain us with her antics, such as chewing sheetrock, wood, and plastic. (in her puppy stages). She was fascinated with our kennel dogs, one in particular. Sugar, a standard poodle, and Alfie had a love/hate relationship. Alfie would aggravate Sugar through the gate, but always with her tail wagging.

She hated change. Once I replaced her doggie door. She refused to come through it for several hours. Move her food dish across the room, nope, not going to eat from there. She knew when something was moved, and she did not like that. On a different note, BB (before Bennie), she occasionally would look up and see something on TV that caught her eye. She would watch for awhile before turning her attention somewhere else.

The “Rancherette brought her home one day from friends who gave her to us. She was three months old. I caller her the “Hitchhiker” but we did not name her immediately. We waited a few days to watch her demeanor and settled on Alfie. If you remember the television show “Alf”, this was our inspiration. We thought she looked like “Alf”.  I do not know the gender of “Alf”, but I surmised that it was a he, thus she became Alfie. And that was the beginning of a lovable “alien” named Alfie.

Alfie went prancing across that Rainbow Bridge yesterday. Kidney failure took its toll. It was a sudden shock for us. We knew she was having some issues and the reason we took her to the vet in the first place, but never realized it was that serious. After discussing with the vet we knew she was only going to get much worse and we decided not to put her through that ordeal. It was a difficult decision to make but a correct one.

So, Miss Alfie, AKA, the Hitchhiker, rest in peace, girl. No pain, no suffering, just romping through the grass around the trees Check closely, dear Alfie, there may be a treat sticking out from a tree somewhere maybe even a squirrel on the other side of the Bridge.