Winfield Boutcher - 1993-2007

May he rest peacefully and eternally run through fields of grass.

Winfield was put to sleep today, having almost reached 14 years old. He was a happy dog right up until the end, but it was getting harder and harder for him to stand up and lie down. You could see him thinking really hard about it before he did either.

We got Winfield when he was a puppy. He was named for the baseball player Dave Winfield, who moved from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Minnesota Twins at age 41, in the same year as we moved from Toronto to Minnesota.

He was a Blue Heeler, German Shephard cross, both herding dogs and very intelligent, so being smart was never his problem. He ate a fair amount of food off the kitchen counters over the years, but he was way too smart to ever do it when anyone was around. His favorite was always fresh baking. He once ate two loaves of freshly baked bread that were cooling on a rack on the counter. Another time he fondly believed that no one would notice the large chocolaty paw prints surrounding the remains of a chocolate cake.

My best memories are of Winfield, Matt, and I going for long walks through the fields behind the house. Those fields now contain a Super Target, Home Depot, and car wash, but when we were all younger they were just wild. We did pick up a few wood ticks over the years, but we went for some wonderful hikes. Winfield's favorite parts of the walk were flushing pheasants and collecting burrs.

Winfield pre-dated digital cameras, so the earliest picture I can find is about 1999, with Winfield, Matt, Stormy and Tawney.

One of Sarah's first, and best drawings captures Winfield really well.

It was really hard to let Winfield go today. They say that dogs are man's best friend, and I can think of no phrase that better describes my friend, and companion, Winfield. We will miss you and the world is a lesser place without you.