In Memory of Radar

Radar was a "dog who came to stay". Some useless @$$#0 dumped this wormy, half-grown black pup on our lane, and we didn't need another dog. I was going to send him to the pound, but my young son begged and pleaded to keep him, promising to feed and care for him (famous last words) --- so he stayed. I named him Radar because he had these huge ears, which he eventually grew into.
          Radar grew up to be a very good watchdog. He stayed outside because we already had an indoor cat, Nugget. He was an excellent mole-catcher, so we never had problems with moles in the yard and garden; now we're overrun with them. Like the dog in Hal Borland's book (reviewed below) he was allowed to come and go freely and he covered a large range of woods. He was a happy dog that didn't require a lot of attention.
          He ended up costing us a lot in vet bills though. Unbeknownst to us, he came to us full of heartworms. When he started coughing and getting sick, he was diagnosed and treated, to the tune of $350. Another time he cut his side open on a barb wire fence and had to be sewn up.
          In the last year of his life (we figured him to be about 14 years old then), he was going blind and deaf. Thunderstorms had always scared him, and one day after a bad storm, he came up missing. Days went by...no Radar. We figured he'd gone off into the woods to die. Then 4 or 5 days later we got a call from an animal rescue group in the county west of us. Radar had been picked up in the parking lot of a restaurant in a town 15 miles away. We gave the group a $20 donation and brought him home. A few days later a neighbor called for us to come get him. Then after another storm, he ended up at another neighbor's. We put him in a pen for awhile until we thought his wanderlust had abated. But next time he was let out, he went to an even farther neighbor's. They found him bedded down in a dog carrier in their garage! We decided by then that he was completely senile and no poor old dog should spend his last days lost and wandering alone, so we had him put to sleep.
          I still miss old Radar. He reminded me a lot of Hal Borland's hound, Pat.

THE DOG WHO CAME TO STAY 
by Hal Borland
          ©1961 Hal Borland is a favorite nature writer of mine. I’m glad he shared with his readers the story of Pat, a black and white fox hound/beagle mix that showed up at his rural home one Christmas Day, accompanied by a half-grown black mutt puppy. Hal and his wife Barbara never planned to have a dog, but Pat and Mike made themselves at home and settled in.
          Eventually they had to give the pup, Mike, away. But they kept Pat because he was such a fine, gentlemanly dog that won their hearts and became a part of their family. The story follows the life of Pat as he hunts rabbits with Al, terrorizes groundhogs, and guards against poachers and trespassing hunters. The chapter on skunk encounters was hilarious, and the ending was poignant, not sad like so many pet books are. No tears here, just a lot of chuckles and a memoir of country living at its best.