Memory Lane post 1

FB keeps showing me pictures of Duncan and we're coming up on the year anniversary of his death, so it hurts again. Rather than dwell on that,, I'm going to try to post a story that makes me smile. Maybe daily, maybe just when I need to chase the tears away. He brought me so much joy, and gave me back an independence I thought I'd lost.

I had made plans to see friends in Illinois, one was flying in from Vermont, I'd be driving up from Kansas. We'd all scattered far and wide from our Southern California start but we all carved out this brief time to be together. It was a whirlwind of Field Museum, Shed Aquarium, water park, dog park, hanging out, and catching up. 

That look.

There were a few things that stood out- walking behind Duncan chanting "dork, dork, dork" in time with the way his tail wagged as we walked to an ice cream shop, or how he got freaked out by the loon call on the "nature walk" in the Field Museum (he went back bravely after a minute, I'm not sure what he thought was going to come through the speakers, but he was pretty sure it would melt our bones.) I think the picture in front of RoboSue will always be one of my favorites of us. So many distractions, and he's looking at me.

The night we ran to the grocery store, I had a youngish man stop me on our way out. He was an off-duty police officer who wanted to know how old Duncan was, if I'd trained Duncan myself, and how long until his young K9 would settle down and do the work without being such a monster. Afterward, my friend asked if that happened a lot, the getting stopped and chatted to about dogs.

I think it's also the one video I have of Duncan working (you can see the dork dork tail here as well) The first look over his shoulder is because we've been following our hosts all day, and I asked him to take the lead. The second, nervous look is because of an indoor carousel hitting the air brakes. Duncan did a bit of traffic work on campus for me, he was startled to hear air brakes inside. They come on a second time, and he tips his head, but no big reaction again https://youtu.be/3IUsaqBEUeQ

But the part of the trip I remember laughing at most was when we went to a dock on a pond. I chucked Duncan's AirKong into the water, and he, having no experience with docks, only with shore entries, just stepped off the edge. For a second, I thought I was going to have to go in after him, then he bobbed to the surface, shook it off, and completed the retrieve. He got the idea and jumped a couple times, though a couple of times he just stepped off and started swimming so he didn't sink so deep again. But that first "oh, shit. He had _no_ idea..." makes me smile still.