Although I’ve predated this post, it’s been six months since our Lab Brandy left this world. It’s still tough to write this since she was such a great house pet and hunting partner. She loved everyone and thought everyone loved her which meant she was not a watchdog. At times she demanded attention but would also get lost in her own world. Unlike our other female dogs she had a much bigger territorial range. She would take long walks in the Frog Hollow area, I think mainly to steal food.

I bought her from Deep Run Kennels in Fredricksburg, VA . Her parents (Hombre and Bittersweet) were Master Hunters and Field Champions. I picked her up in February of 2000 when she was 8 weeks old.  I had her in a crate and she was very nervous and wined a lot. In addition, the nervousness caused her to have diarrhea which added to the enjoyment of the first day with my new dog.

As with most dogs less than two years of age she did a fair amount of puppy destruction, the most notable being chewing up the seat on one of our Seadoos.  Another incident was when she and Cassie got a Red Magic Marker and decided to play tug of war with it. I think it took Jane and I almost a year to get the red out of our cream colored carpet.

I spent a fair amount of time training her to retrieve and cast. The only issue with her throughout her retrieving career was getting her to stay steady to the shot. During all of her training I would make her stay when I shot blanks and threw a dummy. I believe the issue here was when I was not around; people would see her and say “Oh, here’s a lab. Let me throw a stick or ball and let her retrieve it.”

But even though she was a very mild mannered dog and house pet, she acted like a completely different dog when it came to retrieving.  She was a strong and fast swimmer and made some of the longest retrieves I have witnessed a dog make.

Losing a dog is almost like losing a child. We miss her. When I bought her, I thought we would grow old together. She just grew older faster than I did.