For 16 years my Rat Terrier, Karla was my faithful companion in the gopher patch.

I have never had a dog like her. She was runt of the litter and destined to be put down by the breeder.

She caught and killed her first animal, a red squirrel when she was less than a year old.

Over the years she took woodchucks, rock chucks, prairie dogs, possum, mice, rats and thousands of gophers. She also treed a raccoon, cornered a badger and blood trailed a wounded deer in deep grass. She loved to flush grouse for me.

When at home she was never more than a few feet from me at anytime. She even challenged the wife for the Alpha female role in our pack a few times.

This past winter her kidneys started failing and I finally had have her put to sleep, to end her suffering.
This week I scattered her ashes on a gopher mound and sat back and waited for a gopher. Here is a video of Karla's last gopher hunt. Watch for the gopher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5mJEgbOPIQ

Good by my friend,