Piper

After our beloved yellow Lab, Annabelle, passed away I wasn’t sure when I would be ready to start over with a new dog. I knew that when the time came I really wanted a puppy again so that we could have them their whole life and get to spend as much time together as possible. (The down side to larger breed dogs is that their life expectancy is shorter than little dogs, and like they say – Time flies when you’re having fun.) After countless tears and time spent healing, I was finally ready to begin the search a few years later. We looked and looked for “the one”. This was no easy task and unfortunately more than once we had some setbacks because of one reason or another. I started to feel like maybe this wasn’t meant to be. Like I was never going to find another yellow girl to join our family. Then finally I found a nice woman who had a beautiful litter of Labs available. We arranged to go meet the puppies and hopefully pick one out. When we first got to meet Piper she was just a teeny tiny thing. I could hold her in one hand! I instantly fell in love with the little fur ball. Waiting for the weeks to pass until she was old enough to come home was nearly impossible. Luckily, I was kept updated with pics and info along the way. Finally Christmas rolled around and while spending time with family and opening gifts was nice, the real present I was waiting for came the next day. I was so nervous on the drive to go get her I honestly almost threw up. I’m pretty sure at a few points I came close to crying too. (Side note: I’m an extremely emotional person.) I couldn’t believe how much she had grown in the few short weeks since we had seen her last! Piper has the most gorgeous coat; both sandy yellow and very light cream areas swirled together with an adorable zig-zag pattern that runs down her tail. She is what is referred to as a “dudley”. This means that she has two sets of the chocolate Lab gene in her and lacks the black pigmentation typically found in the eyes/muzzle/nose area. I think this gives her a great unique look and I just love her light green eyes and pink nose. She is so smart, laid back and silly, and loves to play fetch and snuggle with her Daddy. We got lucky and had the easiest time potty training her, (She was ringing a bell to go out within a week or two!) and never had any of the typical puppy issues most people do. It’s been awhile now since Piper joined our family and I can’t remember what life was like before her. We try to take her with us whenever possible and she truly adds so much happiness and love to our lives. I hope you enjoy her photos, and I will be adding new ones to this post from time to time.

Annabelle

One day back when I was still living at my parents I came home to see B. standing on the carport holding this beautiful blonde pup. I was so surprised! He had brought her home from West Virginia, holding her on his lap the whole way. Annabelle was the best gift I had ever gotten. She was the prettiest and funniest dog I had ever known. I’m sure everybody thinks their dog has the best personality, but Annabelle really did. She was there to move into the first home B. and I got together. She completed our little family and always made me feel safe, happy and loved. Annabelle lived for car rides. Didn’t matter where we were going or how long the ride was going to be, as long as she could have her head out the window – she was happy. All you had to do was mention “car” or “bye bye” and she would sprint to the door, anxiously waiting. Water was another great love of hers. Kiddie pools, ponds, rivers, the garden hose… You name it, if it involved water, Annabelle loved it. Many years went by and she was there with us for all the ups and downs. We had a lot of great times together and made some wonderful memories.

We found a bump on her belly and I can remember the vet telling us we would have to have it removed and tested for cancer. I fell apart that day. The thought of losing her was unbearable. I couldn’t imagine my life without her in it. She had the tumor removed and we were glad to find out that it was benign, but they had found and removed a bunch of tumors we had no idea were in there when she had surgery. That was an indicator that this probably wasn’t the end of her health battle. Months went by with no complications though and things went back to normal. I was so grateful that we got more time with her.

Then one night out of nowhere she had a seizure. Then she had a lot more. We were so scared, we didn’t know what to do. If I was devastated the first time we found out about her health problems, I don’t have a word to describe how I felt this time. We gave her medicine for the pain and to keep the seizures from happening anymore, but there was no bouncing back. She quickly went from being my silly, happy girl to just quietly laying around all the time. She wouldn’t bark or play; she could barely move around at the end. The day she passed away I shouldn’t have been home with her, but by some miracle, I was. I think she knew and was waiting for me. I take some comfort in knowing that she wasn’t alone or in a scary place when her time came. She was in her warm, loving home and I was laying on the ground next to her petting her soft fur. I told her it was OK…That if it hurt she didn’t have to keep holding on. She could go. I’ll never forget, she started wagging her tail after I said that (something she hadn’t done for days) and then a few seconds later she took her last breath. I know she understood me and that she was heading to a better place where there was no pain anymore. I wish I could have had her longer, although forever wouldn’t have been long enough. I still cry whenever I think about her and I don’t think that will ever change. I might have only had her for a part of my life, but she got to have me for all of hers and for that I’m truly thankful. I know she knew how incredibly loved she was. She was such a good, good dog. I’ll carry great memories of Annabelle in my heart forever.