**

I took her home and the family decided her name would be Bijou, French for "jewel." Bijou began her life as a part of the Gunn clan and we started the process of getting to know each other. The first thing I noticed about her was her absolute silence. She never barked, whined or any of the other things dogs, and especially puppies, did. The doctor told us she was about six months old. She also got extremely scared when anyones voice was raised. If you made any fast move toward her, the tail went between the legs and she shrunk away like she was expecting to be beaten. I guess that was the life she had known before she came into ours.
I tried to potty train her and teach her things you teach most dogs. Stay, sit, speak lay down ... but she never quite got the hang of it. Made me feel ineffective because I had loads of experience training dogs and was actually pretty good at it. But I kept trying anyway to no avail. I could take that dog out for a walk and walk in the field for two hours (I ain't shitting ya'll. I timed it one day) she would happily follow her nose whereverer it led and the first thing she did when we got back to the house was shit and piss on the floor. Talk about exasperating!
She eventually warmed up to the family and, with the exeption of those problems already discused and a penchant for digging, was a pretty good dog.
We moved to our current town after Hurricane Rita swept through South Louisiana. It was an especially great move for her. She now had a big back yard with plenty of shade and room to run in. She was in heaven. Except for the digging holes in the yard she was happy and so were we. (She didn't really worry about the digging, that was a problem with certain adults in the Gunn household. LOL)
For the past couple of days, she had been moping around, wandering from favorite place to favorite place and just generally being lethargic. Ya'll this dog is old and has been through a lot. I told a friend of mine yesterday that I thought she was dying and today she proved me right. She crawled to a shady spot under a tree near the fence, laid down and passed away. I buried her in the shade that she liked to laze around in so much. Sometimes I called her "the stupiest dog on the planet" but over all? She was a good dog and even though I won't admit it, I'll miss her. Chase those rabbits girl and we'll see you in the big, green pasture one day.

R.I.P. Bijou.