Ranger Dusty enjoys a sunny October afternoon in his pasture

10.20.2008

I fenced off most of Dusty's chosen territory when he was about sixteen, fearing that eventually some young punk would try to clean his clock and actually succeed. I thought Dusty would be upset at losing the freedom to roam the entire eight acres, but it turned out I was by far the one most upset. Relieved of the stress that came with defending the vital boundaries of his home from testing youngsters and disrespectful adults alike, Dusty was able to spend the last third of his life relaxing and enjoying life much, much more. In the wild, his guanaco counterparts are driven off to die on inferior forage; South American pack llamas (with declining performance due to much poorer nutrition and limited medical resources) are turned into jerky (waste not, want not) by age 8-12 years. But Dusty was my friend, and so, with the best care I could provide, he packed and worked in harness ably until an injury (likely due to the increased vulnerabilities of aging) from a female who consented to consort with him and then changed her mind forced him into retirement at age 22.5 years. Cataracts that exponentially increased the following year would have led to the same result in any case. Dusty's obvious feeling of safety and security in his pasture was a comfort to me beyond measure.

***************************
This is the last photo of Dusty. I did not take many during his last years, preferring to remember him as the remarkably physically capable friend that he was for the vast portion of his life (and half of my own); my Nikon FE was probably trained on Dusty at least 50% of the time I pressed its shutter, and the jaw-dropping backcountry spaces Dusty made possible for me to access easily comprise the majority of the remainder.

All wonderful things must end, and fortunately Dusty did enjoy a full lifespan.

Dusty developed a fatal pneumonia and had to be euthanized on January 25, 2009; it was the hardest thing I have ever done, despite both losing and euthanizing many animal friends before him.

It is said that a true friend is one who knows everything about you and likes you anyway. That was Dusty — my truest friend ever in this life.