My Best Friend - Billie Jo Dog - 1997 - 2011

When my wife and I bought a house in 1997 we next went to the shelter and got a dog. She picked her out. She was a mutt, a Doberman / German Shepherd. She was super smart. Smarter than I at times. She knew how to steal food better than any animal I've ever seen. There was the time that my wife and I had a dinner party and the dining room table had a cheese platter on it with crackers around this HUGE cheese ball in the middle, you know those port wine things with almonds jammed into it. Well Billie Jo jumped up on the table with two paws and grabbed the cheese ball with one big bite and bolted. She got away with it. She knew she was a "bad dog." But she at least had a fully belly.

Christopher with Billie Jo Dog on Mt Miller in New Hampshire.


I have a 100+ stories like these of her. After my wife and I got divorced the dog had to find a new home. My classmate and one of my best friends Peter Rhett took her in and moved the dog from Massachusetts to Virginia. Billie Jo got the best of the divorce. New house, fishing every weekend, camping all the time, she could sleep wherever she wanted and never got harassed. She put on a few extra pounds like we all do as she got older but she ate better than many humans on the planet, sad to say, but good for her.



Since her move to Virginia she went to Canada about 4 times and the Adirondacks once last year. We made 2 of those trips with her. She passed peacefully and did not have any pain in the end. She lived a full healthy life to the end and lived a long time for a large dog. We love you Billie Jo, thanks for all the love and memories. Christopher, Peter and Jim.