Chutney, taken November 29, 2013

Good Bye Dear Friend  

He loved to sing.

Now he is catching up on news with his old greyhound friend Daphne.

He was very fond of
 his pool on a hot day.

He vigilantly and fiercely looked out for his humans.

Sweet puppy.

This is a full page photograph of Chutney's Daddy, Junior World Champion Heythrop Trailblazer Of Snow Wind. Photo by T.M. Strom from the The Ultimate Jack Russell Terrier by Mary Strom. Chutney would get very upset and bark at this picture whenever I held it up to him and asked, "Who's your Daddy?" 

 He left this plane on January 10, 2014. 

Here is the transcript of our final New Years message and song.

Good Morning and Happy New Year 2014.

We are sitting here on the threshold of a brand new year and of course we hope for the best. We know that this year will hold some sadness and disappointment even in our victories. But we find comfort in the fact that our defeats and tragedies will contain the seeds of rebirth and joy as well.

Some of you may know Chutney, my good friend and companion. He is a Jack Russell terrier who was born in September of 1999. He is fourteen and he will not see his fifteenth birthday. Chutney has ALS which is also know as Lou Gehrig disease. He can hardly stand up now. He must drag himself around but it is getting more and more difficult. The first signs of ALS showed up about a year and a half ago when we noticed that he was having a little trouble jumping up on the bench by the back door. We had trained him to jump up there when it was time for a walk so it would be easier for his aging humans to leash him. Now he needs to be carried outside and upstairs. He eats lying down. He has lost control of his bowel movements and when I take him out I squeeze his abdomen to help him.

Chutney will be leaving us on Friday, January the tenth at about 9:30 AM.

He whimpers, cries and shakes and he has let us know in his own way that he is ready to move on.

I have prepared his grave in the back yard near a witch hazel bush. He will be buried in my old Navy blanket, which he loved, and with a new stuffed bear (scores of Goodwill stuffed animals met their ends at his paws) which will be with him forever.

Long ago we made a deal that we would always be friends and that in whatever guises the future may hold for each of us that we would recognize each other and be friends again.

A few years ago we sang together on the new year and that video is posted on my Youtube channel. Chutney loves to sing and he sounds as sweet as an angel to me. His voice is a bit shaky now but we shall sing for you again this year in Chutney's last public performance.

Chutney was interred January 16 with myself, Beth, and his friend Cushing in attendance. 

Chutney with Cushing, taken October 28, 2014

Chutney's Prayer

Our dearest Chutney has passed to the West with a renewed body of light.

May Anubis lead him to the Happyland where he may lay down his burdens and rest for a time.

He has been ever vigilant in the way of all Jack Russell Terriers, but now he may rest for a time.

He no longer must bear the responsibility for his humans and now he may rest for a time.

May he be rewarded greatly for his efforts in this life.

His body remains here to lie in the ground. 

Wrapped in my Navy blanket he holds a  stuffed bear on a bed of straw.

We shall erect a cairn on this spot.

We pledge to honor his memory and plant lovely flowers on his grave.

I know we shall meet again and we shall remember one another. 

Amen.