Yesterday was a bad day. It was the day my family new was comeing. It was the day we lost a member of our family and the best most loyal friend. We lost are dog of 15 years.

I remember all the good times I had with that dog, remembering all the times he was there for me when it seemed like knowone else was. Always happy too see me. He was like a brother.

My dad is taking it real hard, he and the dog were the closest, they went everywhere together and after my brother and I moved out it seemed like they even got closer.

He wasnt just a dog he was a part of the family and a good friend, he will be missed.

Sorry to hear about your loss...sort of puts the damper on Thanksgiving.

Yeah,I know how you feel.Thats thats the trouble with a good dog.It is destined to cause you grief.
They are still worth it though.

sorry to hear of your loss

Rich, I feel your pain and your father's. I lost a Lab several years back, and he was my fishing/hunting/go for a ride in the truck buddy. Many folks (probably not the ones here on PP) don't understand that a good dog really is a member of the family. Sorry for your loss.

When I was a kid I was a duck hunting fanatic.....I had this old lab I used to take with me....We went everywhere together. He died about seven years ago and I have only been duck hunting once since then, it just wasn't fun without that old dog anymore. I know how you feel brother.

The fact that man Knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superoriaty to other creatures.But the fact that he can do wrong proves his morral inferiority to any creaturs that cannot. Looking back on the memory of the dance we shared beneath the stars above.For a moment all The world was right,how was I to know that you'd ever say goodbye?And now I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end,the way it all would go.Our lives are better left to chance,I could have missed the pain,But I'd have had to miss the dance. Mark twain and Garth brooks I am so very sorry, from K.C and Bear my fishing partners

"

Rich, sorry to hear of your loss, I had to put down my lab 6 years ago and it was as tuff as watching my Dad pass away. I got a new pup the day after and she has been the best dog ever.

Rich, I also have a dog that is a huge part of my life. I know he won't be around forever but I will give him the best life possible. I am sure you have done the same with your dog. Although nothing can replace them, they will be with us as long as we live, in our hearts and thoughts. If there is a heaven, I know dogs are there.

Sorry to hear of your loss. Man's best friend...

RICH,

Time to give thanks for the quality time you spent with your friend before he passed on. I'm sure the feelings were mutual. I'm truly sorry for your loss, you can never replace a friend like that.

I feel your pain, i also lost a dog we had in the family for 13 years. A Loyal friend like that will never be for gotten.

When you feel the tap stike hard !!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by REBEL:
[QB]I feel your pain, i also lost a dog we had in the family for 13 years. A Loyal friend like that will never be for gotten.

When you feel the tap stike hard !!!

i know what youre goin through i had a siberian shepard that died 3 years ago. my mom and dad had the dog since before i was born. we gota 2 year old lab/rott now...man hes wild.
tyler

Hey Rich,
Feel your pain man. Its been ten days since I had to put down my 12 year old golden retriever. Haven't had the gumption to do dick since then. Every time I walk out the door I think I hear her tags jingling and she'll be plowing around the corner waiting for me to lift her into the bed of the truck. It's like someone kicked me in the nuts when I remember she won't be going for a ride with me. Can't even get in the boat she and I spent fishing the Willapa tidewater together for the last 7 years (since I moved down here). Thought about going duck hunting in the morning, but when I picked up the call she chewed on as a pup in Idaho I just started to feel like bawling and put the gun, shells, and waders away. Guess you get over it but hell, I miss her more than alot of people I've known over the years.

On Sunday, guess it will be two weeks ago this coming sunday, she couldn't hold her self up when she got up from her bed by the stove. She had trouble breathing also. I'd never seen her like that but my wife told me she'd been like that only when I wasn't around. It was almost if she din't want to show me she was hurting. The vet said she had tumours in her lungs and along the inside of her spine, so I took her home Monday night to spend one last night with the family. Got up early Tues. and took her down to the boat for one last quick troll on the river (she loved to go fishing and would get all jacked up about rolling fish). After that we drove around to all her favorite haunts, the store for beef jerky and keilbasa, around several neghborhoods so she could gloat at the other dogs not fortunate enough to be riding in a truck, and visited several good friends before we had to go to the vet. Damn man, that was tough and still is.

So, I guess we just have to eventually get on with the same old stuff...I havn't yet. I know she was a dog, but you are right, they are part of the family and are always there for you, unconditionally...just remember to raise one more toast at the end of the day to your best friend. They're still with us...I'm damn sure of it.

[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: Chuckn'Duck ]

Sad story Chuckn'Duck. Damn near cried myself.

Rich.
Sorry to hear about your lost of your best friend. Last August, I also lost my 12 year old golden retriever. I always thought and treated him as a son. He too was much more then "just a dog". He died at home in my arms. It's been over a year now and the hurt has not left my heart. I did manage to fine one poem that made it a little bit eaisier to live with his lost. I will share it with you, and I hope that it will help ease your pain. The poem is called "Supper dog, Rainbow Bridge"

Just this side of Heaven is a place called The Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill or old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling to each other in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together........

Author Unknown

I hope this will ease some of your pain Rich.

Cowlitzfisherman

[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: cowlitzfisherman ]

Sorry to hear it. Have been there myself, also with a very dear fish dog.

All I can say is that you might think about your sadness like this: the fact that you feel so bad is a measure of the great gift you have enjoyed these past years. So look back, think about a particular time that caused you to smile, and try to remember that.

I hear ya and I'm feeling your Pain too. It does stir up great old memeories of my Black Lab, Shadow. As all the other posts state.....she was the best damn dog I've ever been associated with!
Had her for 14 years and was given to my wife and I as a wedding present by my dad who bred and raised labs.
Our neighbors did one of the most incredible heart touching acts of kindness when Shadow passed away. They purchase a glazed oval cement piece that had the picture of a lab on it- we placed the circular cement picture in shadows favorite resting place.... out in our front yard under a tree that served as a shaded area for her.
Whenever I see that piece of cement it brings warm thoughts of her and makes my hurting for her a lil less painful.
God Bless!

Mac

Man, too many sad stories...