I remember the night we got him 14 years ago, the late Stephen Boynton had invited us to a Ducks Unlimited dinner. We didn't want to go. We don't like hunting or things associated with killing animals for sport but politically it was one those things at the time you do.
Who would have thought one of the best things to ever enter our lives would arrive via that dinner?
Teddy was a pure bred labrador retriever breed from champion hunting stock. Sitting in his cage that night his little puppy face open and welcoming and just happy to be noticed, he stole our hearts. Its amazing what love can do to your opinions. I had always told people not to buy a dog, go to the shelter and save a homeless pet. (And I still pretty much adhere to that philosophy) but there are always exceptions to any rule in life. When the bidding went to $900 and Lori had triumphed, we took that little black puppy into our arms and into our lives.
In a 14 year plus life span he experienced only three traumas.
I mentioned he was from a famous hunting gene pool. He was a lab, a water dog, that bold companion who leaps into the water and brings back the downed quarry.
Small problem, Teddy couldn't swim. Into our pool one day he went and if Lori had not gotten to him he would have drowned. He was so upset it took several cheeseburgers for him to recover and for the rest of his life he always walked around our various swimming pools several feet from he edge with pure suspicion on his face.
When we brought him home as a puppy Lori had a black lab she had rescued named Beatrice. I am positive that Teddy became the sweet and gentle soul he was because of Bea. She was patient, loving, and she literally raised him. He only got one serious disciplinary lesson from her.
Once walking on the beach at Ocean City as a young adolescent he keep charging Bea's legs and nipping her and bouncing off of her until finally even sweet Bea could take it no longer. She gave him a growl and pounced on him. Enough had become enough. Trauma number 2. Lesson learned.
Then there was the time we crossed White's Ferry in my old Defender.
The labs loved to ride. Lulu, Elle, (our yellow lab) and Teddy were the three labs. (Bea had passed away). I used to take them and Mae (our doberman) to get hot dogs on Saturday morning in Darnestown. They would get in the back and wait even with the door open. You could not get them to jump out for they knew hot dogs awaited.
(I also used to take them to Seneca Creek and do long walks with them along the creek, which they loved.).
Well this day we were going to Virginia and we drove on to White's Ferry. I don't know if it was the rocking of the water or the tremors from the engine chugging as the Ferry crossed the Potomac but Teddy nearly stroked out. Trauma # 3.
In his 14 years of life he was kind, timid, simple, and loving. He never lost the "puppy face" we saw that first night. Lots of people who met Teddy remarked he seemed at times "not the brightest of dogs". I think he was was one of the "brightest" lights to ever enter into my life.
There are no words to write and no longer enough tears to shed to close the kind of hole that losing Teddy puts in my heart. He is with Lulu and Bea now, his adopted Mom, and his good friend and side kick. "Dear God, please take care of him". He's still just a puppy.
Elle Teddy Lulu
"Going for Hot Dogs"
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