Thursday, September 29, 2011

Good-bye to my sweet old yellow Lab, Marius

OtterTail Marius 12 June 1997 - 28 September 2011. I have been truly blessed to have spent the last 14 years, 3 1/2 months with this sweet, gentle soul - my beloved boy, Marius. He was beautiful to the end. His soft expression attracted admiration from Labrador lovers everywhere we went his whole life. I spent his last day sitting beside him and feeding him everything he loved until my kind vet came here after work and we said "good-bye". He is over Rainbow Bridge now where he was met by his best friend, Oberon. Obi has been waiting for him and I could see him bouncing with joy at their reunion. Godspeed my Babycake.

A Bridge Called Love - Author Unknown

It takes us back to brighter years,
to happier sunlit days
and to precious moments
that will be with us always.
And these fond recollections
are treasured in the heart
to bring us always close to those
from whom we had to part.
There is a bridge of memories
from earth to Heaven above...
It keeps our dear ones near us
It's the bridge that we call love.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

New Black Lab Puppy Joins the OtterTail Pack

I am so pleased to introduce a wonderful new puppy that joined our pack on August 19th. His call name is Tonto, inspired by fond memories I have of watching The Lone Ranger as a kid. I admired the intrepid side kick for his loyalty, crafty skills and keen intuition. Tonto means "wild one" in Potawatomi Indian and kemasahbee means "faithful companion" - both fitting for a wonderful Labrador dog.

My Tonto is a black Labrador Retriever, now 9 weeks old, who has potential to grow into a fine show dog. He was bred by Susan Bennington of Moonlit Labradors. For me that makes "Moondoggie" a ready-made nickname (I was also a fan of Gidgit). I have not decided on his AKC registered name yet.

Tonto is smart and sweet and learning many new things each day. I feel it is of utmost importance to spend time training my puppies, introducing them to new things and establishing our relationship from the first day I get them around 8 weeks old (I started younger when I bred them myself). This is their critical learning period. Those first 4 months of life are the most important for influencing a puppy. Care and training given during the critical learning periods pays off more than any other time in their lives. Tonto is off to a good start. I hope to take videos of his progress. For now, there is an initial movie of his first walk on lead and first swim on my YouTube channel. Visit LabradorDogs to see all of past and future my videos.