Farewell, Miss Julie: Spoiled Rotten Bird Dogs
A Novel
by Robert Tinsley
Amazon.com/dp/1425910114
If every man needs one good woman and one good dog in his lifetime; Dad found both. Julie was an undersized Llewellin English setter, amiable of disposition, and freckled of face. Dad avidly doted on her shamelessly for seventeen years. They roamed the great outdoors, sharing adventures with game birds, varmints, white-water rivers, and hang-gliders. Julie would never have won a field trial, but she became a serious bird dog, hunting bobwhites and ruffed grouse in the Appalachians. Later, the game was valley and mountain quail in California. With her second litter, Julie produced a handsome co-character, Pretty Boy. Julie endeared herself to all with her joy when an outing appeared imminent. In her old age, arthritis overwhelmed her. Dad tirelessly medicated and massaged her, but finally had to accept the heartbreak that comes with all loving relationships.