My 1st Labrador; Shadow!

I had ZERO desire to breed dogs. Heck, I had been afraid of most dogs my whole life. Grow up on a farm in Texas back in the 70's-80's when there was no such thing as the Humane Society and you'd know why! However, when I was in the 3rd grade, the police came in to teach us about drugs, with a beautiful black lab named Telly. I was sold! a GOOD dog, not our guard dogs, not the feral dogs that had been turned out in the countryside!

Fast forward 12 years, I got my very own Labrador! Boy was that an experience! I had absolutely no clue about raising a puppy! AND WE DIDN"T HAVE GOOGLE BACK THEN!!! I was handed a puppy and a book, "Good Owners Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. I've still got it. See, I had just lost a baby and needed a diversion. It worked! I poured on lots of love, followed Brian's book, took Shadow to the ballpark with me, trained him up and got his AKC Star Puppy, then he earned his AKC Good Canine Citizenship.

That same year, 1995, I got pregnant again and she made it! Oh how Shadow was a good big brother! He LOVED kids! Then another baby and Shadow decided he was on baby watch duty! You know that moment when you remember how BAD some dogs could be? Well, one afternoon, I thought Shadow was about to attack Brooke in our back yard. I jumped up ran to the door... just to see some stupid kids trying to jump my fence so they could take a short cut to get home from school. Shadow with his hackles all up, teeth showing and growling, I said "Boys, I don't think you've got a good idea to come over my fence now or ever again." Needless to say, they got Shadow's message.*

One day, we up and decided we needed to move to Florida. We left Shadow behind with my cousins planning to return to get him later. We were already traveling with 2 kids AND a cat with his cat box! We just did not have the room for him on this journey. Did I mention the girls were 2 years and 7 months old, and 7 months old? yep! Try that on for size.... with NO GOOGLE MAPS or Hotel.com! lol well, back to Shadow. I sent money for his care and I received a letter and the money back. Shadow had been stolen right in front of them out of their yard! So, That's it, I'm heartbroken, in a new state, with 2 kids and no Facebook to cry out to my friends and family. I will NEVER get another dog......

Man Plans and God laughs, and in my case, boy howdy did he, but this plan is one we are still on.