Our Labs

Our first Lab came to us when my now 28 yr old son was 2 1/2 yrs old. We named the squirming chocolate brown puppy Barclay after the dog on Sesame Street. She was full of energy and a playmate for our only child.

Marley had nothing on our Barclay. She ate the livingroom couch one day when we were gone. A few weeks later she was on the operating table as the vet removed a pound of fabric which had unraveled and wrapped around some of her internal organs. She "died" on the table at 9 monthes and was revived by the veterinary team. Her recuperation was rough and she never get regain her bottomless energy.

Two years later we moved to Michigan and Barclay got a pool in the deal. She was a well mannered patient swimmer and never jumped into the pool without an invitation. Barclay spent nine summers lounging either by the big pool or inside her "kiddie" pool.

With our kid count now at three, Barclay would injure her knee galloping through the backyard. Her second operation would be as perilous as the first. She would once again "die" on the table and be coaxed back to life. I received a call from the vet's office saying that she blew her unoperated knee out when they got her to stand the first time. It would have to heal on its own. Another long recuperation. The neighbor's snarling dog would try to chase her as she limped out to the woods to do her daily duty. I would grab a stick and scare the dog away. 3 monthes later Barclay was up to no good and feeling fine. On the first day of school, my oldest son was waiting for the bus with his dog. Minutes later she was gone in pursuit of the neighbor's dog. With the noise that followed, she evidently bit the dog and returned home like nothing happened...pay back time. We saw and heard nothing.

Barclay knew when it was Wednesday...Garbage Day in the sub. She could find a small opening in the fence and squeeze her body through it like Houdini. Her love of garbage would contribute to her death in years to come.

Fleas, a tape worm and bouts of bowel and stomach problems followed her . It seemed that Miss Barclay was always at the vet's office for something. The good folks at the vet's office even concocted a powder to put on her food so as not to upset her stomach after eating. The boys called it Magic Powder and we sprinkled it on her dinner for five years.

Eventually our spirited beautiful Lab had grown old and fragile. When she could not climb the steps anymore, everyone ignored it. But the day she did not get up when the boys went to school, I knew it was the end.

She had given us 13 1/2 yrs. of love and devotion. Our oldest was now 16.

On December 11th 1996, I had Barclay put down. She was cremated and her ashes sprinkled in a pine forest by our vet's home. She walks and runs with hundreds of other souls in the forest now.

Occasionally we hear a dog's bark in the early hours of the morning. Two of our boys say they have seen her shadowy figure in our house. I am comforted by all of this.

We now have another chocolate Lab named Cozby who is in the twilight of his life also. In the next few years we will be making that same decision again.