We went to Bedlam Farm today to take some things out and bring them to our new Bedlam Farm. One of them was my headstone for “Wiggle: A Good Dog, 1931-1945” that was bought at a farm auction in 2004. I love this headstone and we put it by the garden at the back porch, a fitting spot, right next to the “Orson” marker we brought over from Bedlam Farm.

I’ve often thought about “Wiggle,” I know him to be a farm dog who lived to be nearly 15 years old. I imagine him as one of those skinny farm border collies who race after trucks all day, herd sheep and ride around with their farmers until both of them drop. I see Wiggle riding tractors, trying to herd the family goat, nipping at the dairy cows to get them into the barn, racing alongside the machines during plowing and seeding, making noise when coyotes and stray dogs came around. Wiggle probably never went to the vet, did not sleep in bed, and ate table scraps, not gourmet dog food.  I am quite certain he was a healthy dog, I doubt he ever had a shot back then, and I guess he died a natural death, perhaps by the wood stove in the old farmhouse.

I had this marker steamed cleaned, it was so black and dirty I couldn’t read the words, and it will darken up again outdoors and in the wind, snow, sun and rain.

This grave marker for a dog was interesting and compelling for me for many reasons. It was created long before the current companion animal craze, before dogs were so intensely emotionalized and this farmer must have loved him dearly to spend that money. I loved the simplicity of his name, and of the market. This marker, “A Good Dog” says it all and it inspired the title of my book about Orson, “A Good Dog” in 2006.

I am very happy to have Wiggle at the new farm, a part of our quite eclectic back porch. “A Good Dog” is the highest compliment a dog can be paid. Maria, bless her, didn’t blink when I suggested bringing it home, nothing much would surprise her now.