Zonk, We’ll Miss Ya’

Poor old Zonk, our well-loved grand dog, had to be put down this week. He demonstrated the aggressive behavior to a child that everyone had long feared. With Zonk it wasn’t meanness, just his erratic, reactive nature. Zonk was like Pavlov’s original dog. Stimulus and response. He wasn’t exactly the brightest penny in the jar. But, he was deeper than anyone expected as evidenced by the unusual diary he left behind.  Unusual, of course, because a dog wrote it. (I will note here that the diary was written many years ago at a time when Zonk was at the heighth of his powers, not the elderly fellow you see in the photo. It is worth noting also that, at the time, he was an “only dog.”)
The diary is, unfortunately, fragmentary. Unfortunate because although the Zonk Diaries provide a clear window into the mind of this particular dog affirming much of what we believed to be true about him; the writing, at the same time, leaves tantalizing questions unanswered. Zonk kept this diary during a short period when Noble and Kendra took a European vacation. During this time he was forced to stay at the North Star Kennels in Ashland. Every other day Linda and I would drive out to North Star in our old diesel Suburban to pick him up and take him for a romp in the hills. We had a good time and our hikes were normally without incident except for the scary scene, the simultaneous near death and out-of-body experience that Zonk relates in the diaries I found hidden in a rent in his dog bed when I picked him up to take him home. If you are interested in what a dog like Zonk is really thinking then you can click here to read the Zonk Diaries. 
FAIR WARNING: It turns out that Zonk had a  foul mouth; cursed like a sailor, if fact. If you are offended by bad language and a purient interest in poop, don’t go there.