Jill was our first Lab. I was first introduced to the breed by my former mother-in-law who had a Black Lab. The love, devotion and spirit of a Lab is unmeasurable by any other breed in my mind. We learned the hard way they are chewers but the love in her brown eyes and gentle nature made it easy to forgive her. Consequently we learned to train using crates with subsequent Labs. We lived on private property where deer would run and Jill loved to chase them. She showed the true outdoor nature of a Lab. We would hike through part of the property and she loved to run through the brushes until it was time to look for ticks which she hated. Labs are extremely devoted and she was practically attached at the hip. Labs love to love and please and after a long commute to work the joy and love which I was greeted with would soothe the commute plus any hard days at work. We took her with us everywhere. She loved the car. After my mother moved in with us she was her constant companion during the day and mine at night and weekends. Though we had beagles as children, my mother was not a huge animal lover but came to love Jill and the Lab breed. The day we had to put Jill down to lymphosarcosa my mother sobbed along with us. Labs have such a way of wrapping themselves around your heart. We were waiting for my mother to come out of a food store once when a man walked by the car, stopped and started walking backwards, staring at Jill the whole time. He said to me "she has a lot of love in her eyes". I responded she is probably the most loved dog in the universe. I trained her without physical violence or abuse. I also trained her to say "I love you" and to roll over. Sadly her vet missed a small spot between her lungs in the Spring of 1999 and by summer she was losing weight, having trouble leaning over to drink or eat and the look of fear was alarming. We took her to an emergency vet hospital and xrays showed a huge tumor between her lungs that had grown into he windpipe. The internist said they couldn't go into the windpipe with surgery and we tried chemo as long as we could. On October 15, 1999 we made the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep. She could no longer find a comfortable position to lay down. It's a damned if you do and a damned if you don't decision to end their lives though you know you are doing the right thing. My husband wouldn't stay in the room and I stayed with Jill, holding her head as she was relieved of her misery. I stayed for a while, crying until I joined my husband in the car and we both cried. My husband is not normally an emotional type but he has cried over all 4 Labs we have lost to date. I was definitely hooked on Labs after Jill and we added Jake and Gwen (both on the site). Though they could't replace my sweet girly-girly they were unique in their own right and helped ease the grief. My hope is that I will be reunited with all of them when it is my time. Until then I continue to honor them and adding them to this site helps to ease the grief and share the love of our loved furbabies with one another!

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