Cedro: The Dog Who Served His Backyard with Distinction

Cedro by Megan Baldrige In 2006, a casual jaunt with my son Jack to the dog shelter turned into a tumultuous ten-year friendship with an irascible, disobedient Black Lab-Chow named Cedro-after a mountain peak near our house in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. In the next few years, my family dispersed, due to divorce and four children's moves on to college. Cedro and I continued as a family of two who walked together every day, but experienced the world in distinctly different ways. Cedro lived in the moment, and prejudged others strongly by a codified system of judgement: raccoons, poodles and cats were unworthy of respect. Ducks were fair game and Labradoodles were not poodles. Despite many discussions with him about his rush to judge, he never budged an inch. Despite our mutual affection, we challenged each other daily. We each benefitted from our great friendship and we each came to understand the other's point of view, without ever agreeing. As is true of most dogs with big hearts, Cedro's life was too short. These poems are my attempt to describe, celebrate and understand my great friend. …