Luke

Our family decided to get another dog. So we went to the then animal shelter in our town called "Hooterville Pets". We fell in love with a young black dog. We knew black dogs were hard to adopt out and the color did not bother us. As we chatted with the shelter, they told us the mother was small, about 40lbs and this puppy was the only one left. They said since the mother was small, this pup would also be only about 40-50 lbs.

We brought our two dogs to see if this dog would get along with them and he did. He was a typical young puppy so he had no fear and enjoyed playing with no dominence issues.

So we adopted this guy and named him Luke.

He fit in so well and the kids (two girls) loved him dearly. He played with them, cuddled with them, took naps with them and even let them dress him up.

There was a problem though. He was growing up to be a fine dog - but it seemed like he would not stop growing. He got bigger and taller very quickly. We soon realized that he was not going to be the 40-50lb dog we were led to believe. And as he grew, he became clumsy. He wasn't used to his long legs and so he would trip over things when he played. When he first came he used to race around the living room darting under the coffee table as he went. But as he grew, the coffee table, and all the things on it, would become a casualty in his racing as he no longer fit under the table. As he zoomed under the table, it would raise up and then fall over as Luke exited the other side tossing all the things on it everywhere.

His personality developed into a loving boy who loved to cuddle. He taught all the dogs that came after, while he was with us, what to do and how to behave and what the commands meant like sit, stay, potty outside. His calmness helped the rescues we took in and they looked up to him - emotionally and literally.

When Luke finished growing he was over 100lbs. He ended up being a Labradane. A beautifully large and sleek boy.

Luke was born on 09/16/1997 and passed away on 09/09/2009. He had started to be off on eating and playing. He started to sleep more. We coud tell he wasn't feeling well. I took him to the vet. I asked them to do an xray to see if we could figure out what was wrong. To our horror we found out that there was a large tumor on his liver. It was inoperable and he would only get worse. He had already lost so much weight and the look he gave me was one that said he was ready to go. Our vet then was absolutely wonderful and allowed me to call the family in order to say our goodbyes. When Dave and our two daughters arrived, they said their goodbyes. Tears flowed - including ones from our vet who had know Luke all his life with us.

I cradled him in my lap telling him I loved him and would miss him as he slowly, and quietly left this world.

He left us with so many fond memories and we have many photos of him and short movies to help us remember the good times.