Dubbletrubble-
We lost out 13+y/o Lab last year and I still find myself calling her name by mistake..(I've got her picture as a screen-saver, so I see her very day...)
When you can, could you tell us more about your wonderful friend's life?.....-Doug
Thanks to all for your kind words and stories. Henry was with me for 13 years. He was a VERY big boy for a Dale at 105 lbs. He was a gentle giant but fearless. He loved kids, cats, and anyone I said was OK. he HATED UPS, FEDEX and squirrels! At the age of 2 he blew out the ACL's in both his back legs so we had TPLO surgery done on both of them. It only slowed him down a little bit and he ended up a little bow legged because of it. But he never gave up. He got around just fine, but drew the line on playing with his "little" brother of 85 lbs. He was just too agile to keep up with. He lived longer than any of his siblings by 4-6 years. Some say a tribute to the love we gave him. When we lived in FL the heat would get to him and he would just go sit on the steps of the pool. Eventually he started to slow down and we were actually worried that the move to PA would not be good for him. However he loved it. The cooler temps and seeing snow for the first time were a treat for him. We actually think it added to his life span. He loved the woods we live in and he had plenty of critters to chase. I will never forget the look he had when he saw his first deer in the yard! Two years ago he fell victim to the Chinese dog food poisoning and both his bravery and a great vet pulled him through to live another day. However after that his bark was mute. He would throw his head back and bark but nothing would come out. It was pretty funny actually. We called it his "mime" bark. The last two years were hard for him. The old knees were giving out and he was having a hard time getting around and stairs were out. He never saw my basement workshop. About 6 months ago he started having trouble keeping food down, then in the last month he could not even keep down water. The two last weeks were double hard on both he and I. He could not walk very far to relieve himself and the last few days he would just wet himself, a most embarrassing situation for him. As a result I would carry him out to the woods every few hours and hold him up while he did his deeds. No easy task for my 58 years and at this time he weighed in at 85 lbs. It was a hard decision to make but the blood work told the tale. All his functions were shutting down and he couldn't and wouldn't eat anything at all. As my vet said, the end was near. It was my decision to let him go with dignity rather than starve to death. On that last day, his last tail wag was when the vet came to put him down. As he died, he licked my hand one last time and he was gone. Never to be forgotten. His ashes will now join my first Airedale, Harry. Some day his brothers ashes will be added to the mix and so on. In our last will, my wife and I have left instructions that our ashes too should be added to the mix so that we all could be united again.
