“Hello Killian!”

Over the embankment, and in the woods, are Killian’s ashes. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

—A month has passed since I put down Killian.
His previous owner came out to help me disperse the ashes.
We dispersed them along Lehigh Valley RailTrail, where Killian and I walked so many times.
We dispersed them at the mile-marker pictured above so I’d know where I put ‘em. That mile-marker is in “the Cathedral-of-Trees,” a section where the abandoned railroad-grade threads overhanging trees.
Killian loved that trail; any trail really. Lehigh Valley RailTrail is 6-8 miles from my house, and Killian barked the whole way there. He knew where he was going!
I always let Killian lead on my 15 foot extendable.
In the Cathedral-of-Trees he’d go off to the side to bark into the woods. I never saw anything, but CRITTERS BEWARE!
I got the same thing driving home from Canandaigua. I pass a pasture with 20-30 black-Angus cows. “You tell ‘em, big monster.”
“Bark-bark-bark-bark-bark! The master wants me to bark.”
“Get off my planet! Mean vicious cows! Who do they think they are? They’re not allowed out there!”
Killian wasn’t a killer, but he was very much a hunter. He’d chase a bunny-rabbit, but not kill it.
Most of my dogs — Killian was Irish-Setter #7 — would grab that bunny-rabbit and shake it to death.
I remember how proud my first dog was when she snagged her first squirrel. Food for the table! That’s what dogs are for = help feed the boss-dog! (And share the kill.)
No way do excoriate a dog doing its job. Here I am walking along and all of a sudden BAM!
They’re hunters; let ‘em hunt!
And Killian loved hunting. Nose to the ground, and into everything. “Gotta move quickly too, so I can check out everything.”
I’ve hiked Lehigh Valley RailTrail many times since, and without Killian.
But every time I pass that mile-marker: “Hello Killian!”

• My first Irish-Setter (late ‘70s, name was “Casey”) snagged at least 30 squirrels, ten of whom she caught after being hit by a car. She’d sneak up on ‘em.