Over the last few weeks we've realised that the neighbour's lovely big dogs--Malamuts--have been very quiet. They live across the laneway between our houses and one of them, Denali, always barked when someone walked past his fenceline. He had a deep resonant woof --a proper doggy bark.
Denali's other personal quirk was howling when he heard a police siren or ambulance. That would set his companion, Cess, off and they'd both howl like wolves. Long, mournful wails. It never failed to make us laugh. When the sirens faded they'd both stop immediately.
Denali was the inspiration for Harry's dog Woof, in my first book, The Right Chord.
Today my husband discovered both dogs, one after the other, had been diagnosed with cancer about a month ago and have subsequently died. Our neighbours are heartbroken.
I'm glad I named Denali in the acknowledgements and I'm going to give my neighbours a copy of my book.
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5 comments:
Oh, Lis, that's so sad. I have two pups that I would miss so much if anything happened to. So cool that one of theirs inspired a character in your book. You're a cool neighbor. :o)
Steph
Thanks Stephanie. I really miss Woof and Cess.
When they first got Cess she was a big lovable friendly pup. Late one night I heard scraping at the back door. I peered through the curtain and there she was wanting to come in. The naughty girl had escaped from their yard. I opened the door and she darted inside and rolled around on the floor at my feet wanting to play.
Whoops LOL I meant to say I miss Denali not Woof. We always thought of him as Woof because an old chap used to walk down the lane early every morning between our houses. Denali would bark and he'd yell (either because he had a walkman or he was deaf) "Hello Woof, hello feller."
Lis - that is so sad. I'm glad you immortilised him in you book. Great thought to give them a copy. They can read it and smile over the Woof references.
And to top things off, today I was going out and a car pulled up next door from a Pet Crematorium. A man went up the steps carrying a red rose and a little urn. Waaaahhhh
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