It has been a rough week on the farm.
It kills me to report that our sweet Benton pup was run over and killed. He had the unfortunate habit of following us out of the yard sometimes. We would often have to stop and load him up to bring him back to the house. This time Tom was in the big grain truck and didn't realize he was still running along side. An all-to-common but devastating side-effect of farm living.
It was very hard on Tom, as you can imagine. And Abby took it especially hard as well. She has such a tender heart. I suppose in a way its good for kids to learn about the brevity of life this way. We all have to learn that lesson somehow.
You may remember we brought him home at Christmas time, so we didn't have near enough time with him. Darn it— we didn't even really get him past the annoying puppy stage! We were nearly ready to have him fixed and were talking about enrolling Abby in dog obedience for 4-H. He had the makings of a great dog.
I did do my fair share of fussing about this dog.
I didn't really want a puppy to start with. We paid through the nose to get the breed we wanted. Then there are the vet bills and extra dog food expenses. We suffered through a lot of night wakings and cleaned up the usual puppy messes. I couldn't stand the extra dog hair and had to kick them outside. Our yard was constantly littered with junk he would tear up and drag all over. He got into our garbage. He dug holes in our grass. We could barely walk out the door without fear of almost getting knocked off our feet from his exuberance. I would take him on runs with me and constantly feared he would be bit by a rattle snake becuase he would run nonstop through the fields chasing birds. I had to pull a swollen tick off of him (ewww!) My windows were constantly smeared with mud and dog slobber. I don't know how many times I said to myself "never again will we have another dog".
And yet.
Here we are with a big hole in our hearts. How is it we fall in love so fast? We are worried for our dog Mia and are sure she will miss him dearly. She was the reason we got a second dog. She was scared of riding in the truck, scared of going in the garage, refused to use a pet door, and barked at everyone who drove in the yard, especially the UPS man. With Ben she was a different dog—slept in the garage, rode in the truck, and used the pet door with ease. When the UPS man comes now she doesn't bark (she just stands and watches as Ben climbs into the truck to get his dog treat. Then she happily excepts her own treat.) It will be interesting to see how she reacts to those things now.
Forgive the sappy post. This is my photo tribute to our sweet Benton.
R.I.P. sweet buddy.