Scamp

Today my childhood friend and companion, Scamp, died of old age. I still remember the first day we got him...
Our previous dog had gotten killed on the road a month before, so my dad went searching for a new dog to call our own. I remember coming home from school and my mom telling my older brother Mike and I that my dad had a surprise waiting for us in the barn. Both of us raced to the barn where my dad and my little sister Erika were waiting with the biggest dog I had ever seen in my life. Seriously, he was the biggest dog in the county of North Dundas and was well known to all the milk truck drivers, vets, milk testers, and breeders who would come to our farm. My dad wanted to name our new dog King, but all of us refused and my dad gave into the name Scamp. At first he had to stay in the barn so that he would get used to the surroundings and not try to run back to his old home. So this meant that it was our job to walk him... though because of his size it took all three of us to hold onto the rope and yet he was still the one that ended up walking us, instead of the other way around.
The moment I laid my eyes on Scamp he won a place in my heart. Throughout my childhood he was my faithful friend: If I had a bad day at school he would be there with me when I would hide behind the machine shed and lick my tears, when we played house he was always willing to be the horse and let us ride on his back, when my brother would chase me he would take ahold of my sleeve and pull me faster than I could run (sometimes I would end up being dragged, but he meant well), when a groundhog was making holes in our fields he would kill them, and when my kittens would die I was comforted by thought that Scamp would not.
I am going to miss my Scampy, but I am thankful for the role that he played in my life. He was a dog full of loyalty and love. We were blessed to have a dog like him.
"Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog."--Sydney Jeanne Seward