Son started wanting a dog about 1994. I kept saying no as every time the kids got pets they would get tired of them so Kare and I would get stuck taking care of them. Mind you I grew up on a farm and had all kinds of pets from a pig we named peanut butter to a red angus heifer names sweetie along with several dogs.
I was working 12 hours shifts 7 days a week back then and just didn't want or need a critter to care fore. Finally Kare started working on me so in Sept 1996 we go get a chocolate lab puppy. I didn't have to deal with it very much for about 8 months. Then the son got tired of caring for her. she got a Spanish name on her papers which translated to a bit of chocolate, we called her Chip. She was a camera shy dog. But I got this one of her when she was getting old.
Wasn't to long and she just became my dog always with me no matter if Kare was around or not. Kare kept wanting a dog of her own so I told her to get one. She came home from the pound while I was at work with this little puppy named Bosco Jan 2000.
He was almost a year old here and being boundary trained. He liked cooling off in Chips pool too.
Once again this dog became mine as I spent so much time with them during the day be fore I went to work. Kare still wanted a dog that would be her's.
She got a call from a friend that there was a little vusla that had been set to be killed but it disappeared from the kennel before the deed could be done. Would we like to have her and she bewell away from the area where the Kennel way. So in March we took a 3 hour drive and picked her up. such a tiny little pup I could see why a breeding kennel wanted her dead.
She was a costly thing as she got sick about as soon as we got her home. She spent 3 days under special care at out vet but she did pull thru and once again became my dog as I retired in April so was home all the time. Kare was supposed to retire at the same time but kept fooling around for a couple more months before she finally did. To late Daisy was my dog so I now had 3 dogs that went with me any time I was out side. We got this habit of walking the woods and vacant field next door every morning and every evening taking about a hour.
She was a fairly good hunting dog even though I didn't make any effort to train her as I just wasn't doing that type of hunting by then.
In May 2001 Kare once again wanted her very own dog. We drive to Detroit to a find you best friend many shelters join together to do every spring. I tried to talk her into a 6 year old chocolate lab but she wasn't wanting a fully grown dog.
She found nothing there she liked so we drove back home and stopped at a shelter on the way. Kare didn't seen any thing that tripped her trigger but I found a tiny little scared thing I told Kare she was coming home with us. I named her baby and discovered I called all the girls baby and the male springer bud. I renamed her Jewel.
She had been badly abused before she was rescued and taken to the shelter. Took a while to gain her trust but being gentle and treats finally won her over. She loved the snow so that really won my heart as I love the snow also. We would call her our polar dog as she would sit out in the cold watching the birds and stuff down by the creek for hours.
Chip was just over 17 when she had a stroke and could not stand up. We had the vet put her down. I buried her down by the creek where she loved to go swim. Jewel had had seizures off and on her whole time with use and after one such in June 2012 she could not use her back legs so once again the vet helped us put her out of her pain. Again I buried her down by the creek with chip since she liked to watch the birds in the bushes there.
Almost to the day a month later I had went out for our walk with Bosco and Daisy. I had noticed a few weeks before Bosco was loosing weight. Figured he just missed Jewel as they were fast friends.
I went out to his pen later after a walk and found him bleeding from an ear. I finally got the bleeding stopped and took him to the vet. He had cancer real bad thru out his body. The vet put him down and I again buried him with Chip and Jewel. Daisy was my last pup and we spent even more time together our walks were 2 and some times 3 hours each time. She had slowed her eating I knew but was still and active girl on our walks. I went out one morning July 20013 to get her for our walk. she had died during the night.
I put her with the others down by the creek even though she had not been crazy about the water. One of
Daisy's last pictures.
I decided I was finished with dogs for the rest of my life.
Al
