Dog stories to cheer me up

[Random 8]

Had to do the hardest thing last night. My hunting dog and family companion of 11+ years has been battling leukemia for awhile. Random infections and general decline. Yesterday evening he crashed hard, and there ain't no vet available at 1 AM. I could use some funny or great dog stories or pictures to cheer me up. Thanks in advance. RIP Loki

 

[Chuck R.]

Good looking Golden, very, very, sorry for your loss! He was fortunate to live with a family that hunted as that's what they were bred to do.

My family has raised goldens since just before WW2. Here's some pics:

 

[Random 8]

Thanks Chuck. He lived the life of an adventurer. Swam in 3 great lakes, one ocean, and every other water body he could get into along the way. Traveled the Boundary waters with us at 4 months old, and retrieved many a duck and goose.

 

[Patocazador]

Good hunting dogs are precious. In my mind even more precious than a family pet. Losing one is as bad as losing a family member. I feel your grief.

Look back at photos of him in the Boundary Waters and the other places. It will help to get you through the tough times.
My Boykin retrieved doves, ducks, even a turkey once. Just like your dog, she was the best hunter on the planet.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Ralphie and his terrier brother..

 

[red rick]

Sorry for your loss . Losing a good dog is like losing a family member . I have 3 beagles that I rabbit hunt with . I am closer with them , then I am with most people .

 

[.308 Norma]

Penny's Gunner nuzzles our Ruger at the 2009 Mountain Man Rendezvous near here. The 2009 Rendezvous was the two brother's 1-year reunion.

"Shh! Be vewy, vewy quite - I'm hunting wabbits!" Ruger in the snow when he was about 10 months old.

Ruger was far too sophisticated to drink from the toilet like any normal dog. Instead, he'd stand on the toilet with his front paws on the cabinet and wait for one of us to turn the water on so that he could drink fresh water from the bathroom sink.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Very sorry for your loss.
We had Golden Retrievers and hunted them in Oklahoma and in Kansas. Great duck dogs and great companions.
Loved them both and miss them still.
In May we adopted/rescued a 2 year old and, while she's not a hunter, she is good company and sweet as can be.

 

[gspn]

Years ago I had a dog that I needed to occasionally keep confined in the kitchen. No matter what I did, he would defeat it, and escape. I was in Walmart with the wife one night, and as we strolled through the store I saw the "kids" section. We had no kids at the time, but it sparked an idea. I found the baby gate section, found a good one, held it up to the wife and said "If this doesn't keep that son of a b!tch in there, then I'm stringin' barbed wire across the top."

My wife burst out laughing when she saw all the parents in the section stop and look at me, some of them aghast. I quickly explained it was for my dog and moved on.

The baby gate was unusually effective, mainly because once a dog has learned they can't get over it, they just assume they never can. I think they call this Classical Conditioning in psychology. As another example, the storm door that leads to my back yard is entirely glass, but the glass can be removed to install a screen. My dogs have lived with that glass door their entire lives, and one day I removed it to put the screen in, but before I did so, I ran an experiment. The dog was sitting next to me and I walked right through the door because the glass had been removed. There was literally nothing keeping you from leaving, you could feel the breeze and smell the outside...but the dog simply would not even try to go through. Over and over I did this. I'd jump through, reach back through and pet him, hold out a treat, call to him, had the entire family step through to the outside, but Classical Conditioning had wired his brain to believe he couldn't go through that door, so he never tried.

Anyway, back to the baby gate, it worked so well that even my Great Dane viewed it as an obstacle. She grew up with the gate, it gave her the impression it was impassible, and that stuck even when she was big enough to simply step over it. The pic below shows a typical stance she'd adopt when she wanted to come out. Even at that size, she viewed the baby gate as an impassible obstacle.

ocho place by s s, on Flickr

Sorry to hear about your loss. I've had to put one down as well, and even when it's the right thing to do, it still sucks.

 

[WisBorn]

A close friend of mine many years ago (I was in high school) had a springer we would hunt grouse with. Our favorite place to go was a marsh with several hardwood islands. We would have to wear hip boots to get from island to island for the birds. My buddy Al would carry his dog Egypt. She couldn't swim that long in the marsh grass. I would carry both shotguns. When we got to an island Al would put her down and off she would go!

Now why is it when you miss a bird the dog always gives you that look???? You know what I'm talking about.
Al's pup ended up with epilepsy and could not stand gun fire.. Al realized that I only bird hunted for Egypt. I would stop by after school to take Egypt for walks in the woods. She loved to flush those birds

 

[dh1633pm]

We get very attached (it goes without saying) to our animals. This is Diesel. Always up for some fun.



120 pounds of lab. Loves the water and fetching. We used to keep him out of the pool with a 2x4 as a gate. He was afraid to step over. He fell though the ice last winter, he jumped out and trotted along like nothing happened. It was only up to his shoulder. It was about 20 out. Yup, labs are fun.

 

[Random 8]

Thanks for the pics and stories keep 'em coming!

One of my favorite of Loki was on our first Boundary Water's canoe trip with him. We don't go in 1 or 2 lakes and camp, we go deep for 9 days. We were WAY in the bush, just about as deep as you can get on the US side on a medium sized rocky island. Little risk of bears or running away, so Loki had the run of the place. We took advantage of a warmish and bug free afternoon to do some skinny dipping off a rock ledge. Loki was doing his best puppy stuff, alternating between swimming around us, dragging the largest sticks he could around the rocks, and leaping from rock face to rock face practicing his coordination and jumping distance. He was living the puppy dream! The wife went into the woods to take a pee, and Loki was so into his play he didn't notice her leave. When she came back over the high rock, she was skylined and in front of the sun, and he didn't know what this big shadow beast approaching was. This was when he made his first big dog vocalization. Woof???? You could clearly hear it phrased as a question as he scuttled into the water to be closer to Dad! We had a great laugh over that.

Another was the spring after his first season of duck hunting. We were hanging out on the dock at a friends, and 2 loons came swimming by just off the dock. Loki was off like a missile, and chased those loons all over the bay. He couldn't understand why they dove just as he got close to them. I nearly yelled myself hoarse between fits of laughing to call him off when he started to get a bit far away. The puzzled look on his face every time one dove, then popped up 50 yards away while he treaded water trying to be as high as he could was priceless!

 

[Space Ghost]

Sorry to hear about your pal. I have a German Shepherd who has been following me around 24/7 for the last almost 9 years. (she's my TBI / PTS service dog) A little over 3 years ago I took her to a dog park for the first time ever when in FL on vacation. She had no clue what to do. Didn't know how to play with the other dogs. Just kept following me around. (like is her job) Took a couple trips for her to relax enough to wander out, and play. Funny part is a photo I had my son take of us by a poop sign though. Just thought the wording was weird. I put it on a German Shepherd facebook page and it blew up. I still see it getting shared every so often even today. In fact... when you google "if your dog poops pick it up" there's me, and Brandy, LOL. Killer thing is in that shot by the poop sign, she just looks so damn happy there in my arms. And she was fat then. Normally she's around 90 pounds, (still big for a female) but she was like 111 back then then.

Here she is doing her "land shark" thing. (ball coming down to earth just out of frame)



Hard at work... (.38 Special concert)



Her internet fame shot...

 

[MacAR]

I give you Sam, my free part cur, part lab who I affectionately call "my idiot":


Above, exceptionally pleased with ourself because we've treed a cat and won't let it down.

Here, with a monster of a boar coon she put up the pear tree out back. I thought he had her beat but she held her own til I could put a second 22 round in him:


One of my favorites, in hot persuit of a groundhog:


And here, with our very first squirrel


Sam came to us quite by accident, but has been a great addition to the family. She's a sweet little 40 pound ball of energy who loves belly rubs, fetch, playing with her cat friends, and tearing apart small furry creatures who dare invade her yard. A true case of "I didn't want a dog but now she's mine and that's ok". I wouldn't take anything for her now... funny how they grow on you.

Mac

 

[Kingcreek]

Sorry for your loss. My family raised goldens from English hunting bloodlines and Buckskin was the best bird dog I ever hunted over. He earned his phd (pheasant hunting degree).

 

[Kingcreek]

Buck retrieved 88 pheasants his first year hunting (1.5 years old) almost all wild ringnecks. I was young and single and we hunted a circuit from South Dakota Nebraska Kansas and Iowa in addition to our home Illinois in 1983 his first season. He knew we only shot roosters and would act completely different on hens after his first couple seasons. People didn’t believe me until they saw it. He would get birdy and I would call it hen or rooster by his actions.
My last dog was a yellow lab, died 3 years ago at almost 15 years old. Red Ryder. Great dog. Happiest dog I ever met and funny and goofy as hell. Lived to retrieve anything but never was the bird dog that Buck was.
I was burning a brush pile once and was throwing some old fence posts on the fire. I was pulling another post off the truck and turned around and Ryder was pulling a burning fence post out of the fire, just thought he should retrieve it for me since I threw it!
Here’s a pic of Ryder with the remains of a stolen zucchini

 

[Kingcreek]

Another pic of Ryder

He was always bloody because he went through everything like a bulldozer, fences, brush, etc nothing stopped him. Never acted like he felt pain.

 

[Bfh_auto]

I feel for you. I've had quite a few working dogs over the years. Even the ones that were in my life for a few months were like part of the family.
When I was little we had a beagle named Luke. He was the first dog I shot a rabbit in front of. I let loose a load of 7 1/2 shot at 10 yards. Mt dad walked up and said. You won't have to chew that one. The next one I let Luke chase for a while first.
The one that I became the most attached to was a catahuala black mouth cur cross. I only had him for 10 months before he was stolen. He worked cattle and ran wild pigs. His grit and drive to please was only matched by his intelligence. I'm scared to get another one because Digger was a one of a kind companion.
Now I'm back to squirrel and coon dogs.

 

[stillquietvoice]

My sister and bil, before they moved to Southern VA, was hunting whitetail deer, on his family property near north haven Connecticut, and found an abandoned beagle puppy. This pup was only a few weeks old so he kept her, and named her Queeny. He trained her to track as well as hunt she went everywhere with them. About a year after she passed, my wife and I were taking a trip to their new place in Danville VA, the weekend before we left we found a beagle statue at a flea market painted just like Queeny, we told my sis that we were bringing a puppy that we found abandoned. My bil wanted no part of another dog so soon,

Upon our arrival we wrapped the statue up in a blanket, petted it while at their door, my sis took it from my wife and begged to keep it, bil finally wanted to see the pup that looked like his prized beagle, discovered it was a statue, laughed and placed it in the yard chasing a rabbit statue that he had under a large oak tree. Said there you go queeny is hunting again.

 

[red rick]

I start beagle puppies for my friends . I enjoy working with them and watching them learn and hunt when they are young . It is a sad day when I call them and tell them that they are ready to go . I hunted with 2 puppies that I started last year , Monday . One of them was so happy to see me , she kept coming up to me crying and jumping up on me . It was rewarding watching them hunt and do a good job .

 

[Atavar]

I really wish I could but I’ve shared my dog stories here so often the guys would smack me for repeating them.
My hunting dogs have all passed and I really miss having a field partner. My eyes water thinking about them.
I am considering training my wife’s BerniePoo (2yo 150lbs) to go afield but I’m afraid squirrels and grouse would disappear in a single gulp. He may be useful as a moose or bear retriever though.
My little 2.5lb dog would lose a fight with a squirrel, even though she will charge a deer or a bear if I let her. Dogs don’t really know big/little.

 

[Speedo66]

So sorry about your dog. My guy is getting close, I’m feeling it already. He was our first, and probably our last.

While not a hunting dog, he's a great friend and hiking companion. A big terrier and completely fearless.

 

[dh1633pm]

Teaching Diesel to fetch in the pool. Without a pool heater, it was pretty cold. I was usually in there with him. You couldn’t get him out of the water. The picture taken May 28th.



Yesterday my wife got a couple items at Brass Pro in Auburn. She hung the bag on the closet door. He was scared to walk by the bag to get out of the bedroom. So he just whined instead. If the bag had a new toy for him, it would have been devoured. He always knows when he’s getting a new toy. A trick I taught him this year was to “find it”. I would hide a toy and make him find it by smelling my hands first. He always does.

 

[giggitygiggity]

I am really sorry to hear that. I hope these pics of my goofy lab help cheer you up.