Tally Is 14

Today is Tally’s 14th birthday. Happy Birthday, Tally! I don’t honestly know what I can say about her that I haven’t already said. She has given us so much more than I could have imagined fourteen years ago.

She’s changed a bit over the years—as have we all. She’s a little slower, more aches and pains, fewer teeth, but no less love of activity. She still loves running around the yard, chasing a ball, scolding the younger dogs, or just sitting in the backyard and thinking.

For several years my wife and I manned an information booth our local breed club had at the IKC show each February. When people asked “how long do Samoyeds live?” we had a standard answer: 10 to 14 years. Every day with Tally is a gift.

Here’s a sample of my posts featuring Tally over the years in reverse chronological order (newest first). All but the oldest include one or more pictures of her but that last one tells so much of her story I had to include it in my list. They might give you some sense of this magnificent bitch. A great show dog. A great working dog. A great friend.

Tally at 13
The First Snow
The Pack Plays Together
My Girls
My Pack
Happy Birthday, Tally!
Dogsledding Chicago, 2007
Fall, 2006
Our Weekend Away
Take Your Dog to Ben Pao
Take Your Dog to Dinner
Tally
From My Front Porch Looking In
The 10:00am Howl

15 comments… add one
  • michael reynolds Link

    I had the honor of meeting Tally yesterday. She is clearly a Good Dog. Yes, she is. She’s such a good doggy.

    Unlike a certain now-one-eyed pug I could mention. http://www.alblit.com/blog/?p=15

  • Beautiful. Just beautiful. Seems like it was only a couple of years ago she was 5 or 6 and getting into all kinds of sammy trouble.

    There’s a special sweetness to senior dogs, and you’re right, every day is a gift to be treasured–even when they eat your shoes!

  • Dave, I hear the heartache lurking behind your words here, and know it well. But you are right — every day with Tally is a gift and a blessing. be sure to love that girl every bit you can.

    And may i say that she is beautiful.

  • Happy Birthday Tally!

    Michael, did you have a beer summit at Dave’s or something?

  • Ben Wolf Link

    @Michael Reynolds

    My dog Atka loves pugs. For some reason they aren’t intimidated by his size and exhuberance, so they always play well together.

    @Dave Schuler

    I don’t know whether you have an interest in blog wars, but there’s been an interesting (from an econ geek perspective) exchange over the last week between Paul Krugman/Nick Rowe on one side and Steve Keen on the other.

    http://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-keenkrugman-debate-a-summary/

  • michael reynolds Link

    Andy:

    We drank moderate amounts of whiskey. I met the elusive Mrs. who is extraordinarily charming and, as you would expect, as smart as Dave with 90% less cranky.

  • Ben Wolf Link

    “We drank moderate amounts of whiskey.”

    That stuff?

  • I don’t know whether you have an interest in blog wars, but there’s been an interesting (from an econ geek perspective) exchange over the last week

    Keen and Krugman have been ragging on each other on various subjects for the last month or so. The last subject was about Hyman Minsky and this may be a continuation of that. I’m still trying to find a hook.

    I find some of Minsky’s ideas interesting—they’re a bit after my time and far enough from the mainstream that they’re novel to me.

  • Susan Glenn Link

    Thanks for the post, Dave. I really enjoyed looking back at past posts, and getting a sense of her full, rich life. And a belated Happy Birthday greeting to Tally! She’s all fluffed up, looking lovely.

  • Last weekend the daughter of some very, old friends of ours (how old? I met the wife when she was a freshman in college and I was a grad student 40 years ago) came over with her boyfriend/fiance for dinner. She stayed with us for a while when she was looking for an apartment and Tally just loves her. She’d been a dog groomer and she gave Tally a much-needed bath before dinner. That’s why she looks so grand.

  • Michael & Dave,

    Well, I hope you solved the world’s problems. I’m sure the whiskey helped.

  • Correction: whisky not whiskey.

  • Ben Wolf Link

    1) Rum is superior to whisky in every respect.

    2) Did you used to post more photos, Dave?

    3) How do you deal with the grief of losing friend after friend? Sometimes years have gone by before I could adopt another dog.

  • Yes, I used to post more photos.

    At one point we lost three dogs in fifteen months: our first, Qila, Tally’s mom, Jenny, and Mira. Yes, the grief is terrible. I still haven’t recovered from Qila or Mira’s deaths. Probably never will.

    Having a purpose helps. We have several: keeping our therapy dog program going, maintaining our pack, just to name two. It takes about three years to train a good therapy dog and after age 9 or 10, it’s time for the dog to retire. That means you’ve got to have dogs in the pipeline.

  • Drew Link

    Moderate amounts of whisky?

    I knew there was something very wrong with both of you.

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