second bridge day

It's been a long time since I posted. the past few weeks have been extra rough for my mommy and daddy and brothers (my kitty brother Xander came and joined me at the bridge), so I have been down by earth more than usual lately.

today was bridge day - when we get messages from our earth-families. Last year, mommy hadn't realized that special messages could be delivered today, so I didn't get any mail. But today, a letter came from mommy.


Sweet Lukey,

My darling boy, I will always love you. You were always the sweet pup, who enjoyed cuddling and was so tolerant of Bo's energy and playfulness. You were most definitely gone too soon. If I'd known then that you would be with us for such a short time, I would have made sure that I spent every waking moment with you. But I didn't, and so I wasted time at work and spent time with daddy when you couldn't go with us. I'm sorry.

I know that lately you have been nearby while I have been sad. Thank you for caring for Baby when she joined you at the bridge last summer, and for caring for Xander when he joined you a few weeks ago. And, thank you for helping us find Othello and Falstaff to be Bo's new friends soon after you went to the bridge. I know that you know they didn't replace you; but I also know that we would never have found such sweet dogs without your help.

Please look after Bo now. He's upset about Xander, and so is your daddy. They both need your calming presence right now. I know that you have made lots of new furriends at the bridge, and that you probably have fun stuff going on every day, so if you could just swing by and check on them once a day or so, that would be wonderful. And thank you sweet boy. Thank you for being in my life - for showing me just how loving a dog can be, and for showing me how wonderful you were. I miss you sweetie.

Mommy

mommy's sad again

Mommy hadn't intended on adding any new posts to my diary, but today my kitty sister, Baby, came to join me at the bridge. She'd been with mommy for more than 12 years, but she was just too old in the end (she was 17). The day she turned 17 was the day mommy went into labor with our new human brother, and it was the day that Baby realized mommy would be ok if she left. Since then, Baby has gone downhill rapidly, and now she's at peace and up here ready to run.

Must hurry off to meet up with her and show her around.

Lukey's last post

Here is a copy from Luke's last post to the Labs forum. He passed away tonight at about 9:30 pm. We will always love our sweet boy.


First, I wanted to say thank you to everydoggie who has sent me good wishes. I've really appreciated them, and I know my mommy has too. Second, I thought I should get on here today to tell you how my vet's visit went.

Well, we had a rough day today. I think it was rougher on Mommy than it was on me. From my perspective, Mommy and daddy woke me up really early in the morning and drug me out to the car. Then I rode with mommy for about 1/2 an hour - I was starting to think we were going back to obedience school. But when we got there, daddy had been driving along in the car right behind us! Weird, huh?

They carried me inside, and I realized we were at a vet's office. It took a bit, but then the nice lady came to take me back to the kennel part. I got to drink from their cool doggie-fountain while daddy ran back out to the car - they'd left my blankie on the back seat. Then, the nice lady let me walk around and say hi to everyone before I went to the cage room.

The vet was worried that I was too depressed, and too dehydrated, so they gave me a IV drip while I was there. They shaved my whole belly, and they scanned it (mommy called it an ultrasound). Then they let me sleep some more. When I woke up, I still had the IV, and the nurses thought I was really sweet, so they let me sleep on a blanket out by one of their desks all day.

The scan showed that my liver has swollen more, my kidneys have too, and my gall bladder has as well. Bloos work showed that all three have stopped working completely. The vets wanted to do exploratory surgery to see if they could figure out why, but mommy and daddy don't want to do that. All they know is that it looks like I was born with this problem, and it just took this long for it to become critical.

I'm sorry - I started writing to you a while ago, but had to take a break. Mommy's crying again, and I've tried to tell her it's ok, that I need to leave now, but she's still crying. I don't think I'll be here tomorrow. It's hard for me to breathe, and my neck has stiffened up - I can't bend it anymore. I'm ready to go to the bridge, where I can run around and watch my brother, mommy, and daddy playing down here. Mommy and daddy say they know i need to go soon, and to not wait for them, but they're so sad. They worry that with as young as I am, that I didn't have a chance to really live. But I know that I had the bestest life I could have had. I was with my brother every single day, and I had a mommy and daddy who loved me soooo much. I hate to leave them but I don't know if I have a choice any more.

I think this will be my last post. Maybe not. Maybe a miracle will happen tonight and I'll wake up again tomorrow. But, if not, I'll make sure Bo knows to let you know. It might take him awhile. If I do leave you all, please watch out for Bo. I don't think he'll deal with this very well. I think he'll need some support without me. I do appreciate all of your support over the past week - it has made me and mommy and daddy feel so loved. I just think that maybe I'm a little too sick this time.

Not feeling 100%

I've had a bad few weeks lately. I just don't feel like myself. Mommy and daddy took me to the vet, and the vet is concerned too. I spent the whole day there today, and had bloodwork and xrays and everything. Basically, they figured out that my one kidney is mis-shapen and my liver is inflamed and swollen. But, they don't know why for either of those. So tomorrow mommy and daddy get to talk with the vet about what to do next. Mommy seems so sad, and I'd like to let her know that I'm ok, but I just need to nap some more first...

woe is me

We had to have a BATH today! I *hate* baths. They're evil and cruel and mean and why oh why must my pretty fur get all wet? Mommy tried to make it better - giving us treats and biscuits and peanut butter to atone for the awful, dreaded, bath. But, I was still allllll wet and soapy and I know she rinsed off the soapy, but I was still wet. She says I'm a lab and I should like water, but I don't see how any doggie would like being all icky and drenched. (ok, so maybe Bo seems to like it - but he's weird.)

the one good thing was that once we were all clean, mommy said we could go for a walk to show off how pretty we looked. And, of course, we were handsome. So we went for a walk to a new part of town. We hadn't walked there before. But it was nice getting to smell all the new smells. and it was about the perfect length of a walk - we got back right when I was thinking I was too tired to keep going. (Bo, the wimp, had wussed out several blocks before this). He might be speedy, but I have alllll the stamina in the family. :)

uh oh

I think I got us in trouble today. I really really didn't mean to. But, Bo knows better than to steal my food. He DOES! Yesterday, mommy and daddy went shopping to get stuff to fix the fence after Bo escaped. When they came back, they had the most awesome thing I had ever seen. It was a HUGE bone - about the size of the cats! And it smelled sooooooooooooo good. yummmmmmy!

So they gave it to us and told us to share. Well, Bo is supposed to know by now that that means I get first dibs, and he gets whatever's left over. But, he didn't wanna do that this time. He wanted to have it first. So I woofed. He gave in and we were ok. But, then daddy saw that I had the bone all to myself, so he took it and cut it with his really noisy saw. He gave half to each of us. Now, normally I would have been cool with this, but I've been having to show Bo who's boss lately, so I said nuh-uh, no way, and claimed both of them.

Well, this brought mommy outside. she took one of hte halves and gave it to Bo! I went to retrieve it and put it where it belonged, with me, knowing it must have been an honest mistake. And she tapped me on the nose! Mommy never does that! She rarely even says no. But she even tapped me with two fingers at the same time!!! She took the bone back, gave it to Bo, and then sat between me and him. Then Daddy came over and stood between me and her. They insisted that I let him have half of the bone. Don't they understand that I'm the alpha male???

So, I let it go last night, but resolved to fix this the first time I could. So, when daddy came home from work today, he gave us back our bones (they'd put them away last night after we'd barely started on them). And, I promptly claimed them both, to show Bo who's still the boss. Daddy took it and gave it back to Bo!. So, I went and got it again. That's when daddy said "that's it" and threw them both away!!!! No!!!! Some alley dog is going to get to enjoy our really really coool bone!!!!!!!!!! It's just not fair! Bo was even showing that he realized it was my right to have the whole bone, but daddy had to interfere... hrmph. we had to make do with 15 minutes of rawhide time instead. we chewed on them, but it just wasn't the same.

rain rain go AWAY!

It's been raining for forever here!!! Ok, so it just started raining yesterday, but it hasn't stopped at all the whole time and we don't like it! We know, we're lab puppies, but we like being dry, not wet. We've been cooped up in our special room all day both days, with no fun run around in the back yard time.

Luckily, we have a fun room - they call it the doggie's room. It's a nice big room between the garage and the house, and when it rains, mommy and daddy shut all the windows most of the way, and the door has just enough crack that we can get out to pee and stuff, but is closed enough that we stay dry. Daddy even went around and found some of our toys so that e'd have something to do in our room.

The worst part is that every time we finally decide to go out and play, mommy or daddy will come out like 15 minutes after that, and say "we were going to let you inside, but you're all wet!!" Well, if we'd known they were coming to let us in, we wouldn't have gone out in the rain, right?

Oh well, time to sit here staring at the raindrops some more.

Sassy's online!

Oh, our auntie has joined the site! We can't wait to meet our cousin, Jasper Petey, but Sassy's here too. woof! She came out to visit us for a week in July and it was lots of fun. She didn't seem to like us at first, and she stayed inside while we were in the backyard. When she did come out, she would growl at us. Especially if we tried to play with her. Even more if Grandpa Joe petted us - she doesn't seem to like to share her daddy's attention. We didn't mind when she hung out on our mommy's lap, but she got mad if she caught him near us...

But, by the end of the week, we won her over. Then we had sooo much fun! She knew how to find all the best sticks for chewing on and was great at tag and just hanging around with and oh, we wish she would come back to visit again. But, for now, we'll just get to see her on here. Welcome Sassy Blossom!

woof woof!

First try at this

Hi all,

I'm Luke, and I'm the biggest pet in my household. The vet seems to think I'll be retaining that title for a while to come too. Ok, to be honest, there's just the four of us, and two are cats, so I was bigger than both of them when I moved where at 8 weeks old. I'm not sure if mommy's joking or not when she says she thinks I was born bigger than Baby, my older sister. Daddy says I come by it naturally. So far as everyone can tell, I'm mostly yellow lab and golden retriever, but then I have some Chow and Akita mixed in for fun. Can anyone explain why sometimes my mommy just picks up my paws and says "oh boy"??

I'm Luke, of Bo&Luke_TheGeopups. We're geocaching pups (if you've never heard of it, it's a really fun game, when mommy and daddy let us come along. They'll stare at this little plastic thing in their hands for a while while we're walking, then they'll say "ok boys, it's near hear. go find the tupperware!" And we get to search through the woods for boxes that other people hid. Mommy and Daddy just aren't nearly as good at it as we are - I don't think they can smell plastic or something silly like that. A bunch of times we've been there saying "but it's right HERE" and they just ignored us.

Mommy says that I'm her laid-back, lovable boy. I love to cuddle and be petted. I also love tosleep. Luckily, I've never gotten into enough trouble to be sent to my crate (yet), so my favorite thing to do is to take my blankie into my crate and take a good nap with the door to the crate wide open. Two weeks ago, though, I got a spider bite, and mommy was scared. So, off to the doctor's where they shaved a big patch off my back (I'm refusing to take any new pictures til it grows back). Then, they gave me two shots. And, they sent me home with this squirty stuff that burned when my parents put it on me (Bo was always nice enough to lick it right back off). But, there was some good in it. Mommy and daddy kept talking about "pills". I don't know what they were, but for almost 2 weeks, Bo and I got lunch meat slices every morning and every night. It was wonderful!

Luckily I'm feeling a lot better now, and the weather finally cooled down, so my extra thick fur is no longer so hot. (Bo never understood, since he has less fur than me). Bo always wants to run around and play chase and wrestle, and it was just too hot in August. But, I think I can keep up with him better now. Of course, mommy keeps saying that it's embarassing that we don't understand "fetch" - whatever that may be. So she throws a lot of stuff and looks like we should do something, but we don't know what to do, so we just wait til she stops and breaks down and pets us. Ok, time to go play tag in the back yard now. Nice to meet everyone!!

woof woof
Luke