Diego and Lincoln
Either of them retrieve ducks?
Or nap, and dream about running really fast?
She’s always running in her sleep with her legs going.
Salty has been canoeing since a young age. And yes this one will retrieve a duck.
Second pic at Pennsylvania Canoe Fanatics and she lays around in the boat…
Great shot!
They re always proud to have that duck. Good dog.
Our 14 year old retired, crippled flat coat retriever got up and retrieved a duck thrown. He retrieved it staggering and limping slowly. But he made it.
Just a revisit, despite the fact I have not been to this thread in a while.
The Shoshone call Winter the “death season”. I can understand why when you see how they lived through the winters in the old days. It was a hard life for sure.
On December 21 of 2022 my dog Ronith died suddenly. (he’s the mostly black dog in the bottom pic) I was in town to go to dinner with a friend and was gone for 75 minutes and when I returned home he had died and was laying half stiff on the floor.
This Christmas and New Years season has been hard also. 10 days before Christmas a very good friend of mine Micky, died suddenly with no warning. He and I have spent a lot of time together hunting, fixing things of the farm and restoring tools for our shops and done some canoeing too. December 15 he and his wife were just waking up and he was talking to her. He laid down and she told me she was facing the closet to get their cloths out and he gasped. She turned around and he was gone. Just that quick. One breath and his life left him.
2 days later our dog Abraham was in distress on the floor with his breathing. He’d been unable to walk well for several weeks but we found he had a tumor in the guts and at 13-1/2 years old it was past a time when he could be saved. Anna brought him home from Texas when she did some work down there when he was a puppy and he was one of our family. She did the deed herself. I volunteered to save her from it but she refused and said she made a promise to herself and she would be responsible for it, but it tore our guts out.
Puppy Olaf and Abraham by Steve Zihn, on Flickr
Today my old goat Leupold also was put down. He also was about 14 years old and 2 weeks ago lost nearly all ability to work his rear legs I tried to nurse him but 6 days ago what little movement he had left him and he could only lay in one place and eat and drink. After 6 days I admitted to myself he was not going to recover. I did the deed at 6:30 this morning.
P4300001 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr
And about 5 hours ago I got word about an old friend of mine, Vearl Smith, who I have known for 40 years. he had a stroke and is not likely to pull through. He’s in ICU in Montana. I am grieved for a loss of another old friend and feel such sorry for his wife Charity.
My reason for posting this is simple; It’s not to be a downer, but to make a point.
DO NOT take loved ones and cherished pets for granted.
If you don’t have time for them make time! There will be a time when you have no more time to be with them. Make good memories while they are still make-able.
Pile of love 1 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr
Amen!