Kamper Profile: Dooley Bergeron

What a funny little character! Dooley was either a Toy Poodle mix, or perhaps was from one of those strains of European Toy Poodles who were bred a little on the long side; it’s not known for sure. In any case, he was mostly a calm little dog, but given to bursts of energy, during which he would rocket back and forth from one end of the house to another. His favorite activity, though, was simply relaxing, particularly in the arms of Luc, Jen, or Justin. He thought nothing of being carried about like a human baby; it afforded him the chance to lie on his back, with his head turning about every now and then to see the goings-on below. (If you had him curled up under your sweat jacket with just his head poking out of the neck, it was so much the better.)

He was very tolerant of guests in his house (a frequent thing). Sometimes youngsters or energetic dogs would get on his nerves, in which case he’d just go back to sleep in some quiet corner. He really enjoyed it when he was able to sleep up in bed with mom & dad, although sometimes in his early morning fog, he’d forget how high the bed was and would jump down, resulting in many face-plants. Keeping him separated from us at meal time required us to be in a different room, with him and our other dogs cut off by a baby gate or behind closed doors, which almost always resulted in angry, high-pitched protests from him.

As time went on, his body began to betray him, as it eventually does with all of us. When it got to the point where only strong pain medication made life agreeable for him, the decision was made to free him of his hurts, which happened peacefully at home on April 10th. He was laid to rest in a small garden plot in front of the house next to Willie. We miss his sweet little face very much, and miss being able to sweep him up in our arms and carry him around. How lucky we were to have that silly guy in our lives. Rest in peace, little man.