Banjo

Posted by Troy Eckhardt on April 12, 2008 at 12:49 am

Our dog Banjo was born on June 9, 1994 in southeastern Tennessee. My wife Jennifer and I met her in an animal shelter on 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The meeting took place on July 30, 1994 on the seventh day of our honeymoon.

Banjo was a frisky puppy. Of the two females in the litter, we chose her because she was the more playful. She had a beautiful black coat, and a bit of black on her tongue. Although she looks like a shaggy black lab, she must have some chow in her. Not much, though, because she has none of the lousy chow disposition.

We had to sneak her into the honeymoon chalet on the last night of our stay, because the shelter was not open on the day we left Gatlinburg. We kept her in a box, so no harm was done. She had a bit of diarrhea, which became a deluge of feces on the trip home, during which we must have stopped fifty times for puppy potty breaks.

Fast forward to 2008. Banjo is about to turn 14 years old, which is older than any of our 4.5 children (Jennifer’s Pregnant with number five.) At this point in her life, Banjo had become incontinent. She urinates where ever she happens to be sitting. At times her tail sops up the mess, which she then gleefully wags on the members of the family, the furniture, and whatever else is around. My house smells terrible no matter how often we wash the dog and bleach the floors.

I feel bad about it, but I think I’m going to have to put her to sleep for this reason and other, albeit less disturbing, health problems.