"The best rabbit dog in these parts. Wouldn’t run nothing but a rabbit. Why, everybody says so."
You readers, didn’t think I could say anything else did you.

Doc Caldwell told me I could say goodbye and leave her on the table. They would come back in and “put her down” after I left.
No, I couldn’t do that.
It might be the easy way out, but it isn’t the way the dog man should do it.
I hate it because Maizie was always my favorite. Not the best, just my favorite. I liked the blue dots that came up in her coat every winter and she always was a happy dog, wanting to play. She took delight in Lucy as a puppy and many was the time I had to go out on the deck to yell for them to hush up. She was a slow dog and sometimes just went and found her own rabbit to chase. She often straightened out the trail the other dogs confused. And that annoying habit of rolling over on her back when you were going to pick her up.

Yeah, the tough redneck choked up.