Chewy

My little buddy is gone , his heart was strong , nose still wet and his ears still pricked up , but his poor old body could go on no longer.
I found Chewy just before Easter in 1998 while working at Peat Island Hospital at Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury river , I was working there as a painter and was painting one of the self care houses on the mainland that held half a dozen mentally handicapped clients.
Chewy had been hanging around the house as one of the clients , Old Sid , a deaf and dumb guy was feeding him and sneaking him into his bedroom at night , I seen him a couple of times pushing his trolley over to the island with Chewy following behind him.
Evidently the nurses had called the pound a couple of times but they could not catch him and on this day he was looking at me through the back door while I was working.
He looked hungry so I ratted through the kitchen cupboards and found a tin of tuna which he gobbled up , at smoko time I walked over to the shop with him following and got myself some brekky and bought a tin of dog food , we then went over to my shed in the depot to eat.
Once again he downed the whole tin of food and I kicked back in the chair and started reading the paper , then I hear a thud and a small bark and look up , Chewy had jumped onto the table and was looking at me , I said " what do you want ? " and he dove into my lap and curled up like a kitten.
He was a funny looking thing , I guess he was silky terrier crossed with a staffy , wiry grey fur with an underlying brindle coat.
After smoko I went back to work and Chewy wandered off somewhere , I didn't see him for the rest of the day , I figured he would just come and go and be another one of the animals that I fed while at work , I used to feed all the local parakeets out the back of the paint shop as well.
That afternoon it started to rain and I shut up shop and ran over to my ute and started it up , I glanced over at the compressor shed next to my workshop and could see a small wet dog huddled in the corner looking at me , a split second decision , I opened my car door and said " are you coming ? " and he jumped into my lap in a flash.
He jumped onto the rear parcel shelf of the ute , a tiny space , all I could see in the rear view mirror was myself and this furry head - Chewbacca and Steve Solo !
I already had 2 dogs and wondered what my girlfriend would say , she owned a female red kelpie and I had Max an old male bull terrier cross cattle dog , so when I got home before everyone else I got all 3 dogs and shoved them into the double garage and closed the door.
I went inside to make a cuppa and sat down for a minute expecting all hell to erupt in the garage , but no it was very quiet in there.
So I went to have a look and found the old dog Max half asleep in one corner and Chewy and the kelpie having a play wrestle in the middle of the room , the energetic kelpie had finally got a play buddy and Max finally got some relief from the kelpie harassing him to play all the time.
I split up with that girl and moved back to my hometown , Max died in 2001 and it was just Chewy and myself from then on , he's been my faithful mate for so many years and touched everyone who ever met him.
Yesterday it was raining , Chewy had been slowly fading away for weeks , his legs were gone and he had reacted badly to medication given to him by the vet and he became anemic , I had to carry him outside so he could go to the toilet and he just couldn't get up anymore.
We had spent a good last night together I sat with him for hours and hand fed him some chocolate cake and schmackos , he slept on my bed next to me , then in the morning I had to do it , it was time , I took him to the vet for the last time.
Rest in peace my little buddy