Dog gone

Yesterday we took Jet to the Veterinarian for the last time.  It was heart wrenching. MP made the arrangements, I couldn't. But I remember years ago I had foolishly put her at risk with a retrieve. I was showing off at the boat launch and I heaved the training dummy way to far, almost mid river. Well Jet went for it of course but by the time she saw it it was directly down current from her and although she was closing the distance she disappeared out of sight around the island 1/4 mile below our house....I was horrified and yelling for her to stop but she was gone. In true Lab style it took about 15 minutes but she came back all smiles with the dummy in her mouth. I related this story to a friend of mine who knows Labs well and he told me " Jeff, this dog will do ANYTHING for you so she relies on you to make good decisions for her"....Well, that's what we did yesterday, we made a decision. It was important to MP that Jetty have her dignity and she was having so many problems that I guess you needn't here.   All of you that know Labs have seen that tilted head stare where they seem to understand entirely what you're feeling in life. As I lifted her from the truck yesterday and she gave me that look it seemed to say....' it's Ok'...

MP has told me that Jet made me a better person and I guess she's right. Being a guy who's pretty much self contained, MP would say self absorbed, Jet gave me something else to focus on, a place to channel some of my emotions. I always said I'd never be a dog owner that treated their dog better than they do people and even though I didn't become that type of guy I now understand how you could get that way. It's simple.  It's love.

It's really everybody's loss, she was the greeter here at Mile 14 for the thousands of people who passed our gate in her life...so many of you know here, Mary Johnson loved her like  Max and Sam did. I took the pic above on Wednesday, you can see she's still a beauty queen. She had the best life of all her kennel mates and I believe out lived them as well. She was free to roam and new her boundaries. She was my salvage partner, she'd walk us, she was the swimming est Lab ever seen. She'd wait for me everyday sitting on the picnic table and over flow with excitement when any black boat approached. She swam out to greet me mid river more than once and I would pull her aboard. She new the dump run got her a biscuit. She didn't like bugs. She was never in a fight, never.

So me and MP aren't feeling so good right now. I know this empty quiet around here will fatigue with time, we'll be better. But when you think about it the degree of your misery at the loss of a love is a measure of that love. It's the price of love and it's worth the expense.

If you'd like ....one of my first blogs ever was about Jet and it's funny. Nov. 23, 2009. I think it stands well as an obituary for the most wonderful animal I've ever known.