the kind of dog

we always joked about
how you were not the kind of dog
to run away

you were the kind of dog
who if you escaped from the house
without us noticing
would never leave our unfenced yard
and would be back at the door minutes later
scratching on it to be let back in

as you got older
we talked about how some dogs
know they are dying
and if given the chance
will walk out into the woods
and simply lie down forever

we didn't think you had
that kind of instict
but the last day before you died

you went out your dog door
to an area of the back yard
i had finally fenced in with chicken wire
a few weeks earlier
and when you didn't come back in
after fifteen minutes
melissa went out to check on you
and you were lying down in the grass
at the far edge of the fence
completely asleep

when she told me
she had found you there
like that
i imagined if the fence hadn't been there
you wouldn't have either.