Wally

 Wallace at Stirling Bridge

aka Wally, Footboy,  Booboo, Mister Blondie, Bubby, Knucklehead, Goofball, Salt to Poppy's Pepper.

Age 12, begging for a treat, and still looking impossibly young.

I first met Wally at age 16 weeks.  He was shy, skittish.  I picked him out and brought him home to meet the family

Wally didn't like squeaky balls.  In fact he generally wasn't interested in toys.  My wife could get him to play with a fluffy squirrel, but she had to run around with it to garner his interest.

Wally's puppy pictures.

Wally didn't like the pool.  He wouldn't jump in like Poppy to chase down a toy, of course, see above.  He hated it when we would bring him in and he would quickly swim to the side, not always quite knowing where the exit steps were located.  At best he would lay on the cement next to me when I sat in the pool, and occasionally give me a lick to let me know that he was there.

Wally was camera shy.  Every time I would pick up my phone to take his picture he would turn his back and slink off.  The above is a rare picture of him at age 4 next to the toy basket.  He is slightly blurry because he was already in motion to leave.

Walking in Cambria, age 6,

One game Wally did like was Rawr-Rawr.  It's hard to explain.  He would jump up on the couch, roll around knocking the pillows off while making the Rawr-Rawr noise.  He used his nose to burrow under pillows.  Sometimes he would try to burrow under me and knock me off.  Later, when I had an exercise mat, he would play this game sans pillow while I rubbed the sides of his head.  

Wally age 8 on my wife's recliner.  He would jump up here and settle against her leg while she reclined.  He did this regularly when the weather was cool year after year, until he couldn't anymore.  This was a stealth photograph, or he would have jumped off.

Wally and Poppy had a simple relationship.  She was in charge.  She would often steal the fluffy squirrel from him.  She would steal his food if she finished hers first.  Where she went, he followed.  But sometimes he would lose her, and she didn't wait for him.  He marked places where she marked, sometimes giving it a double, or even triple tap.

They both loved adventure.  Poppy could figure out when we were going camping, just from our level of activity and the noise we made loading the truck.  Wally would then get excited because Poppy was excited.  

Wally LOVED to run!  I wish I took up running sooner so that he would have had more years of going running with me.  He could really move with those short legs.  I had to slow him down because I couldn't run that fast!

Poppy and Wally age 10, at the beach and with our brand new teardrop.

Age 11, on another camping trip.

Age 11, waiting for treats from dinner prep.

Wally loved to pick fights with other dogs. He tended to also snap at passing runners, bicyclists, skateboarders, anyone on a scooter.  He killed at least one mole that I know of.  He definitely wanted to kill any cats in 'his' yard.  We had our front yard fenced in just so our dogs could go out front while we sat on the porch.

Age 15 still waiting for scraps.

Panama City, age 15.

Wally age 15, loves Papaya!

Wally age 16, still a foot boy.

Wally passed on January 24th 2022.  He couldn't see, couldn't smell, couldn't hear.  In the end he did enjoy one last Rawr-Rawr without making noise and just rubbing his head against a towel, but I knew what he was trying to do.  I'm grateful for the 16+ years that Wally shared with me.  I will miss him always.