Jonathan P. Baird

Last Sunday morning, on March 2, my dog Shady died suddenly and unexpectedly. He was eleven. He had not been sick. He wolfed down his breakfast, then threw it all up, pooped in the house (very unlike him) and then had trouble getting up. He managed to go outside to pee but he was definitely out of sorts and he cried and whimpered a little. Within an hour, he was gone. I remain in a state of disbelief that Shady is no longer with us.

People often said he was the biggest golden retriever they had ever seen, He weighed over 120 pounds but he wasn’t fat, just very large-boned with beautiful body lines. As my friends Sally and Kim have said, Shady was a gentle giant. He was a big presence in my not-so-big house.

It is funny because when I picked him out of a large litter, he was the runt. There was no way to predict his eventual size. At the same time he was so big, he was a scaredy-cat. He hated to go over his head in water. He rarely wandered off too far.

When I would take him out at night, he sometimes didn’t like to go past my mailbox. He was tuned into sounds and smells that were way beyond me. He would freeze and be immobile and unmovable. He wanted back in the house. I always figured there was some animal lurking in the dark that I could not detect. We do live in a very rural place with woods all around.

Shady was extremely stubborn. He had a mind of his own and occasionally he would take off. There is a two mile loop near my house we call the Dingle and one time we were walking it, Shady took off into the woods and would not come back. I yelled quite a bit and then returned home. No Shady. It was starting to get dark and I was getting worried. Around dusk, a neighbor who lives about a mile away called me and he said Shady was there. I drove right over and when I arrived, Shady bolted and jumped in my car so fast. I guess he was scared too.

He was a chow hound and kind of an omnivore. He was one of those dogs who would eat so fast you would want him to slow down but it was impossible. He was not part of the slow food movement. He loved treats and I admit I loved to spoil him. Donuts were his thing, especially apple cider donuts.

He had a way of spreading out around the house. When he slurped water, he left a big trail. He was a perpetual shedding machine who with his long hair lived to destroy vacuum cleaners. Golden retriever hairballs seemed to inhabit every corner of my home. My car also featured golden retriever hair and there was no dog-free zone there. Dog truly was my co-pilot.

Shady loved toys. Of all the toys he ever got, he liked this little toy duck we named Ms. Quacky best. He proudly would carry Ms. Quacky around in his mouth as he pranced around being King Dog. My younger dog, Blue, also loved Ms. Quacky. The two of them had a competition about who would get control of Ms. Quacky. That competition never stopped

Of all the things we did together, I think hiking mountains was Shady’s favorite. He would run ahead and come back. Usually he didn’t go too far ahead. One time when my friend Steve and I hiked a back trail on Mt. Chocurua, he took off ahead up the trail and was gone for almost an hour until we caught up with him. There were other dogs in a party ahead that were more interesting than us.

He was the friendliest of dogs. I was always proud of Shady’s good nature because he was so friendly to everyone, dogs and people. It was like he expected to be loved . He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Sometimes he would jump up on people which was not always appreciated but it was out of enthusiasm.

One great thing about living in the country is all the back roads and trails where you can roam and mostly get away from cars. I guess I am paranoid about cars. I once lost a dog when I lived in Berlin NH who was struck by a hit-and-run driver. I have been determined to never have that experience again.

You have to be careful, though, about hunters. Shady did not like gunshots. It was a primal thing for him. One thing about living in North Wilmot, gunshots are always going off. He hated fireworks too. With those noises he would freeze and he would not want to walk outside. Sometimes, I would take him home if he was too freaked out.

I think running free everyday was and is essential for my dogs. Maybe we overdomesticate our animals and they need dog-time when they can run in the woods, even if not for that long. They thrive on that and tend to be more settled after running around.

I named Shady after the former Philadelphia Eagles running back, Lesean “Shady” McCoy. That Shady had great moves.It was disconcerting when that Shady got traded to the Buffalo Bills when my Shady was still young. I wanted Shady to be on the Eagles! That trade was one of Chip Kelly’s worst moves.

During Covid, working at home, Shady and Blue were my constant companions and they helped me cope with the social isolation and helped to get me through. It did make me think more about the human-dog relationship. Dogs fill a gap. Their unconditional loyalty surpasses human loyalty. Maybe part of why humans love dogs so much is that their love and devotion is undivided. It is rare to get that same level of affection from our fellow humans.

Shady was a little atypical for the breed. He had no interest in retrieving. He wasn’t the type of dog who would run repeatedly and get a tennis ball you threw 100 times. For whatever reason, he wasn’t into that.

There are a couple shout-outs connected to Shady that I need to offer. My friend and neighbor Wendy Lavallee is a dog person extraordinaire. For almost Shady’s entire life, Wendy helped me, took Shady and Blue and cared for them while I was at work. Any time I had to leave town, she generously would keep my pups and care for them. Wendy has her own dog care business and my dogs could not have been in better hands. Wendy has a magical connection with dogs.

I also need to thank my union, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). Our union negotiated a great collective bargaining agreement featuring telework rights which allowed more time to work from home. Needless to say, my dogs loved it (as did I). As a federal worker, that now is threatened. If we lose that and have to return to the office full time, I don’t know how I could explain it to Blue.

We had a bunch of nicknames for Shady: the Shademeister, Mr. Shady, Shady Boy, Big Puppy and Shade. He was my Dog Emeritus.The dog had an amazing ability to make people happy. He had a radiant spirit. His passing is a reminder of the importance of loving and telling your love because you never know what will happen next. I don’t know why Shady died and it happened so fast. I totally did not expect that.

I saw a dog quote that I like: “Dogs are not our whole life but they make our lives whole”. I was privileged to have Shady in my life. You could not ask for a better friend.