H2O's thread

[dsinwi]

H2O's thread got me thinking and reflecting on my own experience. Didn't want to hijack his special thread so here goes.

When my 3rd yellow passed I could not bring myself to do it again. Life changes also meant that I would not have as much time to devote to a hunting breed and that is just not fair to the dog, glad I was at least smart enough to realize that. After several years of not having a dog in the house of any kind, my wife and I each rescued one. They are lap dogs, ankle biters if you will. We joke that they are replacements for our children who are now gone but not totally out of the house. They are as much a member of our family as any we've ever had and I love them both dearly. Hunting partners they will never be. I miss that but letting go again is too much for me to handle.

On a side note. If anyone is considering a pet please take serious consideration into a rescue. There are so many wonderful animals out there looking for a good home and to simply have a friend to love them back.

Thank you for listening.

 

[j-bird]

Amen to the rescues and the adoptions....

This is Lucy....she is technically my wifes dog....she picked her out, after I did the roll-her-on-her-back test. However Lucy picked me..... If you have a dog you know what I mean. Lucy is a healer/lab mix that we adopted roughly 10 years ago as a pup. She has been my shadow ever since. If I leave the room she will follow me. If I go outside she will have a fit if she isn't allowed outside. She used to sleep on the bed up against me, but now sleeps on the floor next to my side of the bed. Age is slowing her down but she is still just as smart as ever. She is actually smarter than some people I know....but I know some dumb people as well. She is the boss of the dog pack (we also have 2 other dogs as well in the house) but she has been known to be a bit stubborn when it comes to who all else can tell her what to do. Many times the wife or the kids will tell her to do something and Lucy will look at me for confirmation. Frustrates my wife to no end! None of my dogs have come from a breeder - not that I have anything against breeders.....I just know there are plenty of dogs out thee that need a home that will make a wonderful pet.

 

[Bill]

Like dsinwi part of the reason I don't want another is that I don't have the time I feel a retriever should get in the field.

This pic hangs in my sitting room. AKC registered name "Otis YouDaman".
He was six months old in this pic on his first hunt. Water retrieved 6 that day. He was birdie his whole life and it was obvious his joy came from retrieving birds. He made me look like a good trainer but it was just in him. He awed my buddies often with several hundred yard retrieves. Once he kicked a wounded bird out of the grass and caught the darn think by chasing it and jumping in the air. Rudest dog you would have ever met. He peed on people at the boat ramp. Once he jumped in a guys boat and took a dump! He ignored anything he was told by anyone except me. Like j-bird it drove my wife nuts.

I tell myself he had a good run, he had to have retrieved several thousand birds and we rarely missed a Saturday if the season was in.

Irreplaceable as far as I'm concerned. Its been about 8 years since he passed. I figure when the sting wears off maybe I'll get another but that hasn't happened yet.

 

[Bill]

Here's another story about that darn dog. Retrieved a wounded Canadian goose once in a field. The dang bird started pecking and biting his nose. Otis started spinning in circles so the goose couldn't peck him. He did that for 50 yards until he got the thing back to me. I've never seen anything like it....

 

[John-W-WI]

I've lost a couple.... "Rascoe" a golden retriever/basset hound:



My brother and his wife adopted a basset hound. Little did they know she was pregnant. Roscoe was one of the puppies. I had him almost 13 years and he went EVERYWHERE with me. When we started our company in 1996 he went to work with me everyday for the 1st 1.5 years.

He is the last hound I'll ever own. When his nose turned on, his ears turned off. Loved everything about him except that.

The day I put Roscoe down was the longest day of my life. Arthritis had gotten the best of him and he couldn't get around anymore. I left the vet balling my eyes out (didn't even pay, they knew I was good for it). Got in my truck and drove. I have no idea where I went. Hours later I was home.

It took me about 6 months before I was ready for another dog. My wife kept telling me "you'll know when you are ready, and the right one will find you". He did.

I adopted "Judge" from a shepherd rescue when he was 2.5 years old:



He was a great dog and bonded with me the night I picked him up at the rescue. Unfortunately he only made it to 8 years old. He was lymes positive when we got him and I think that took its toll on him despite our best efforts to help him.

I've never been a bird guy, too busy chasing deer. So my dogs are companions and assist me as much as possible. The 2 I have now know the rules at the farm and are very little work to take with. They just know what to do:



It's nothing but mutts from the rescue for me from now on. Far less "issues" with a little mixture in the DNA.

-John

 

[TreeDaddy]

God's creatures

bill

 

[j-bird]

Well I guess to be fair I have to give my other 2 dogs their due as well.

The first one is Sasha (we call her "stinky"). My middle daughter was at pre-school at our church and the neighbor to the church had a dog who had puppies. The mother was a corgi type dog and the daddy was the sneaky neighbors golden retriever. The kids all loved the puppies obviously and I was sitting on the couch one day and the wife brought 3 different ones home! No, no, no ....not 3 no way! I did however cave on the one little ball of fur that was just the most docile thing I had ever seen. I thought it would help Lucy stay young. Well Lucy mothered the pup as her own and Sasha was a member of the family. "Stinky" came to be as she seemed to have a desire to smell like horse poop due to the various batch required! Fast forward nearly 10 years. That same daughter has an accident and has years of pain and depression related issues - Sasha was essentially her therapy dog. She knows when Jenna was down and would do everything she could to try to make her feel better. Sometime that would be just laying there and sometimes she would come and get us when Jenna needed something or things got "worse". I am not sure how this dog can have the amount of care giving she has, but she does. She isn't "my" dog she is certainly Jenna's - and for some reason I have to think it's not by accident. Sasha has very emotional eyes and seems to have a way of just being there for you when you need someone. She at times also acts like she is part cat - which is odd of a 60 pound dog!


This guy is Buddy. Buddy is an adopt. Best we can tell he is part beagle and part coon hound of some sort. Buddy showed up as a stray and my oldest boy fell in love with him. We was in the process of trying to find out where Buddy came from as I had no intention of keeping him, until.....I ran him over! Yep - I was going down the drive to take the kids to school and the stupid dog runs in front of the truck.....cathup! Well talk about feeling like an ass! We took buddy to the vet and his hip was broken - not the hip bone itself, but the ball portion of the leg bone. I really thought we would have to put him down, but the vet offer a surgical procedure where he would be fine, but would walk funny. So now I have a dog that needs a front to rear alignment! Away, it's Tom's dog, but again he follows me everywhere. He finally figured out what that thing on the end of his face is for and can be of assistance when I am trying to find a deer.....the thing is he is afraid of them! He is certainly part coon dog because he has two very different barks. He has that "I'm tracking" bark and then he has a "Holy crap I found it" bark. He is however the barkingest dog on the planet I think. He get the lest bit excited and he barks, and barks, and barks some more. Sometimes he is not sure what to do with what he finds!


That's my pack of 3 - Lucy has the brains, Sasha has the compassion and Buddy has the sniffer and energy..... I never thought I would have 3 dogs at once, but that's what has happened. All just pets and all a rescue or adopt of some sort and all mutts, yet all a part of the family!

 

[H20fwler]

Very good thread!

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I usually pass threads like this, because just the thought is so saddening. I have had many hunting dogs throughout my life, I would get them, train them, and if I didnt like them, pass them on to someone else, I never had any emotional attachment to any of them. They have always been outdoor dogs.

I was friends with a breeder for British labs, and at the time my early teen kids he would take the kids out and show off the puppies, and of course I would hear "daddy please!" So I ended up with one, his name is Blue, the kids wouldnt let the puppy be an outdoor dog, so he was indoors all of the time. He became my best friend in the world, he was always with me, and I trained him to pheasant hunt, he was my best bird dog I had ever owned. He now is 9, and he has had a couple scares in the past couple years, and it broke my heart to think of the unthinkable. He has slowed, but so have I, so I am fine with that. When Blue was about a year and a half, I ended up with another British lab, Emma. These 2 dogs are the best dogs I have ever had. Together in their prime, were both awesome pheasant dogs. Emma still has the energy, and a very good nose, Blue seems to know right where to go to kick up the birds, Emma can find any downed bird, in even the thickest of stuff. They listen better then any of my kids do.

Here is Blue


This is 2 ball Emma, she has the fastest tongue, and can somehow dart in, and lick your face from 5 feet away in the blink of an eye. Emma loves attention, and is very jealous. Emma and Blue love to play ball, but now that Blue slowed down a bit, Emma likes to play ball more, because she hogs both balls. Emma is such a sweetheart.



I got remarried about 3 years ago, and along with the new family, came another fury friend, her name is Lilly. Lilly isnt a hunter, and she doesnt mind very well, and is annoying at times. Lilly loves to run, when we go to the cabin, we may not see her again for hours, but she is family, and my wife loves her. Lilly is an English springer spanial.



When the day comes, I will be devastated. I dont even want to think about it. Whether I could ever get another after, time will only tell.