A Tribute to a Friend
 by Ron McMillion = Smoky<-gLu->
It was 17 years ago that Dusty came into my life. When Dusty was a puppy I would carry him in my coat pocket. Every day we would go to work. Me, I drove, Dusty was on what we called 'Puppy patrol'. He surveyed the area looking for dogs, cats, anything he could bark at. I remember this one shop I had, it was in a bad part of town, and Dusty would go out for about 30 minutes everyday doing whatever it is dogs do and then he would come back to the shop. Well on this one day he didn’t come back, so I started looking. I walked up and down every street in about a 10 block radius of the shop, then I drove around the area. Dusty was no where to be found. As it got later and later, darkness fell and reality set in. I  had to come to grips with the fact that he was gone The next morning I went to work very early in hopes of finding him and I’m here to tell you that God does answer prayers. There was Dusty lying at the door step.
Needless to say he never wandered very far from my side after that. Where ever I would go people expected to see Dusty because he was always there. It didn’t matter where, that dog went with me. At night he would lie at the side of the bed. If I got up for anything even a glass of water, that dog was there. When I played Quake, he slept by my chair and he knew the sound of me shutting down the computer because he would wake up, and he was ready to go. I still catch myself saying "OK Dusty time for bed", But he’s not there anymore.

Dusty and I became very close through the years, I talked to him, silly as it may sound I think that dog understood. I never had to yell at him. I would just tell him "stop that" if he was doing anything wrong, and he never did it again. Many people asked me how I trained him. I would tell them I didn’t. I just loved him.
 
About two years ago Dusty got hit by a car. He was hurt real bad, his insides were tore up and he had a very slim chance of survival. The doctor said he needed to operate and it had to be done. The cost he said, would be about $6000.00. I didn’t think twice, I had no idea how I would pay, I had to try to save Dusty. So I called my mom and She loaned me the money. Dusty got the medical attention he needed and I told my wife the cost was $3000.00. I knew she would say it was too much money and I should have let him die. Well I told her that if it came to the point of me having to choose between her and Dusty she would lose. She said very little about the money after that. Dusty was in the hospital for three weeks. I went to see him everyday - finally he got to come home. They replaced his hip and he couldn’t walk but he still went everywhere with me.

Dusty recovered from the accident but he was never the same. He couldn’t run anymore, he couldn’t jump into the truck anymore, and going up and down the steps was impossible for him, so I carried him. I carried him everywhere. I didn’t mind, he was my buddy. Dusty was in a great deal of pain at the end and I could tell though he never complained or never cried, I could tell.
 
Dusty Died Dec 24 2004                                        Trying to figure out how to imbed this song.
Dear God                                      http://www.godzlikeus.com/memberz/smoky/Dan Seals - One Friend..mp3
I Miss That Dog                                                                      Smoky <-gLu->