"All men who are dog men walk a similar trail. The butterball pup angling off to one side, or the seasoned field worker hired on for the gun and not his gut, or the gimpy, stoved-up senior canine citizen who can’t hear, can’t see, can’t run–they all walk to side at one time or another in a dog man’s life. But the memory companions are set down front and back, absent in presence but not in mind. They are so often the reason the dog man chooses this spot in the marsh for his blind, or goes out of his way in the field to check that thicket, or hole by the cottonwood out back. Some dog, some time, showed the dog man this was where the action is, this is where we harvest."
https://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2010/07/fs-classic-and-i-do-not-walk-alone/I'll bet there are a few fond memories of Dogs that walked beside you in your past too.
"Spook" our little female Black Lab kept on diving into the ice covered sloughs along the Skagit Waterway, determined to retrieve all her Ducks.
Each time we would stop for a low flying flock, she would be digging a fresh bed to curl up in, trying to stay warm. Deciding she had well paid her dues for the day we headed back early so she could warm up on her way home. She was a fine Hunting Dog!
