The Last Ride

Today I lost my best friend of 13 years. Joker was a beautiful Australian Shepherd but most of all he was an unconditional friend. He taught me many things but one of the most important was no matter how bad you may have it you always treat your friends the same, with unconditional love. He taught me that holding grudges was a waste of time and energy. If you treat your friends and family the same every time, you will earn their respect.

Joker didn’t get off to a great start in our family because we didn’t know anything about dogs. We quickly learned. If he had been a person he might have given up on us and moved on to another family but he knew we that he could train us, and he did. We soon learned that having a dog wasn’t having something to control, it was someone to share your life and experiences with. After we realized what is was about, Joker seemed to say “I knew you would come around”. After that, he, my wife and I were inseparable.

He loved to chase the horses. I’d bet he ran 50 miles around our round pen while my wife worked her colts. He is probably partly responsible for the quality of cow training our horses received. The only thing he and his sister, Belle, didn’t figure out was that they should both go the same direction around the round pen (ouch). Even the week before we lost him, he was running up and down the pasture fence chasing the horses. He wasn’t able to run quite as long but you couldn’t convince him of that. He knew not to go into the pasture. A few years ago he got too close behind a colt and got kicked in the face and underwent several weeks of recovery (and stitches). That colt was gone shortly after that.

Every single day he would lie in the driveway and wait for me to come home from work. It didn’t matter if it was cold, wet, hot or snowing, he was there waiting and met me at the door of my truck when I opened it. He was there. I came home and he was sitting there covered in snow or soaking wet with rain, waiting on his dad. It didn’t matter to him, he was going to show his friend how much he enjoyed seeing him. That’s a lesson we all should learn.

Joker loved to ride in the truck. He wouldn’t ride in the front though, that was for girls and puppies. He rode in the bed with his head hanging over the side and if the wind was too much he would lay up against the cab for a wind break. As soon as he heard the engine slow he was up and his head was over the side. He loved to ride in the truck.

Today he took his last ride; a ride to see his siblings, Belle, Bubba and Miss Kitty.

Joker taught us lessons that we will carry with us through the rest of our life. I will miss him terribly but would not trade the pain of losing him for the joy of having known him and his unconditional love.

See you soon JoJo.