How do you say good-bye when given the opportunity to do so? How do you know when it is the right time to make that final last decision? What do you say to your trusted best friend, your loyal companion, the faithful one who worships the ground you walk on? Anyone who has a dog, or any pet for that matter, knows the anguish when the time comes to make a decision. That time has come for my family.............

Every ending has a beginning and for Lucky the beginning began with a bang. I have always wanted a Golden Retriever. I believe they are the most beautiful angelic dogs with pure hearts of gold. Once I graduated from Optometry school and was about to close on my first house, my husband decided to take me for a drive. He said he was buying me a surprise. We drove to the outskirts of town and pulled up to a home that would make your knees shake. It wasn't that bad, but it made my skin crawl. We were led to the back yard where there were what appeared to be puppies walking around everywhere. If anyone has seen a Golden Retriever puppy, you would agree that they are the most precious plump fluff balls of fur in the world. The fur on these puppies however, was muddy and matted down and they were thin. The mom looked sickly and one puppy in particular couldn't stand up. My immediate reaction was to leave. It was David who said we had to rescue one. Of all the puppies only one cared that we were there. Only one wagged his tail and only one smiled the biggest ear to ear grin I have ever seen on a dog. That one puppy stood on the other side of a chain linked fence wagging and smiling and dangling his enormous paws over the edge of the fence. That one puppy captured and stole my heart. We begrudgingly paid the $150 dollars and were promised our papers would be mailed. As I happily sat in the car with my new puppy on my lap, I tried to run my fingers through his muddy matted fur. I felt something and saw something, rather many somethings that were attached and hanging all over his body. It was like a freak show. I told David we needed to find a vet immediately. We drove down the road looking on every corner for a vet. We found one, pulled in, went inside, explained what happened, and they immediately put us into a room. The technician flipped up this puppy's ears and what was inside definitely made my skin crawl. This puppy was infested with ticks! Ticks covered his ear canals, covered every inch of his body! As he lay on the table they were dropping off one by one. Those "things" I had seen and felt earlier were eggs which contained hundreds more. How awful we felt. She ordered a tick dip, double dose. She took our brand new puppy for the night and said he needed to be screened for tick fever, needed his vaccines and needed to be dipped again. She came in to fill out our paperwork and asked for the puppy's name. A name......we never even had time to think of a name. On the spot I commented on what a lucky puppy he was that day. And from that one comment "Lucky" became a member of our family.

We were ecstatic when we picked Lucky up the following day. He did not have tick fever and now that he was all cleaned up he looked like the fluffy fur ball I have always longed for. We all moved into our brand new home together as a new happy family. He stood tall and proud and his ears flopped up and down as he pranced around his new home. For days I continued to find dead ticks wedged between his toes or on his body. In no time he was a plump bouncing ball of fur. His smile always dominated his face and was definitely contagious. From that day Lucky provided us with 10 years of much joy and so many memories and so many trips to the vet.

We never received our papers..........no surprise there. We did; however, find out at 6 months of age that Lucky had congenital hip dysplasia. He was growing so fast and so large that we feared the worst. It seemed like that was that beginning of multiple vet visits. With a dog we expected an annual visit for vaccines and now with his hip diagnosis x-rays every 6 months. However what we all endured could never have been expected. Lucky has been x-rayed for possible ingestion of nails, he was neutered, he has undergone a total hip replacement, he has had a torn ACL repaired on both back knees, he has had a root canal performed on his canine tooth, he has had a triple root canal with a gold crown, he was treated for seizures (we believe a side effect of Rimadyl), he has undergone removal of several fatty tumors, he has had a growth removed from his gums, and has had a number of incidental ear infections here and there. Try keeping a 100+ pound over zealous energetic bone loving food loving dog quiet and confined for days and weeks following most of these procedures. Not an easy task.

We were so proud of our new puppy that we took him everywhere. We soon discovered that he absolutely loved water and loved to swim. As an eight week old puppy he would plummet into the water and swim to his heart's content. He truly showed no fear. Lucky quickly learned tricks. Either David was a good trainer, or Lucky was the smartest dog, or he just plain loved the treats so much that he would do anything. In no time he learned to sit, lay down, speak, shake, high five, and play dead dog. Based on this, I thought obedience and leash training would be a piece of cake. I think he had my number because he never took the training seriously and continued to this day to walk me instead of the other way around.

As most puppies do, Lucky went through a brief chewing and digging stage. He chewed through our cable wire numerous times and in an attempt to deter him, David placed hot sauce on the wire. That didn't stop Lucky. He liked licking the hot sauce. He chewed through the Nintendo cable only to receive a shock in the mouth. He chewed the garden hose holder off the wall which is where we thought he ingested the nails from. Of course the nails were found in the yard after the vet visit and x-rays. He loved to steal socks and chew through them, but mostly he liked to carry them around and cuddle with them. I can't recall the number of times David put on his socks only to find a hole. He once found his own favorite toy. We took Lucky up North and we stayed in a cabin. We were trying to go to sleep while Lucky persistently scratched and whined at the headboard. Finally after hours of this, David looked behind the headboard and found a Beanie Baby Husky Dog named Nanook. Nanook became Lucky's pride and joy and he carried him everywhere for months until Nanook met his maker when Jade chewed him to shreds.

Speaking of cuddling, Lucky was the best because lying on his side he was nearly the size of a human. You could really wrap yourself around him and give him an enormous bear hug. We thought that taking Lucky on our first camping trip would be great because he could help warm us up. We all experienced the coldest night of our lives in the back of David's truck. Instead of Lucky warming us up, Lucky sought cover underneath our heads and pillow for warmth.

I'll never forget the time I awoke to frantic barking and the sound of a chain link fence being torn down and David screaming for me to "Come Quick". I ran down only to find a pile of poop in the center of the room, for which I immediately assumed belonged to Jade (she was still house training at the time), and Lucky running inside frantically barking and running with his tail between his legs not being able to control his own bowels and a hot air balloon flying directly above our back yard. Lucky's heart was racing and he was scared to death. Needless to say, Lucky despised hot air balloons after that.

Like any new mom I was neurotic about taking rolls and rolls of pictures of Lucky, posing him and dressing him up for the holidays. I had an impression of his paw bronzed and even scheduled a professional photo shoot on his first birthday. Of course, Santa and the Easter Bunny visited every year with new treats and toys.

Two classic characteristics about Lucky that defined his personality were his insatiable appetite and desire to be a homebody. Lucky would eat anything placed in front of him and try for more. He would do his tricks all in a row all on his own while you would stand there holding a plate of food or a mere treat. He didn't understand that bones were for chewing and pleasure. Instead he would try to chew through the bone in an attempt to crush it into pieces ultimately digesting it. This resulted in root canals. We tried to manage his weight, but Lucky always managed to get more than his share. He was notorious for watching Bailey (Jade, Pierre, Ren, and Ace) and would strike at the opportunity to devour their food before they knew what hit them. About the only thing we ever saw Lucky "chew" was walnuts. Go figure. One day David was cracking walnuts and gave Lucky one. He looked so adorable and it was the funniest thing that we video taped it. Every time we gave him a walnut he would chew it to pieces entertaining himself and us for minutes at a time. Lucky loved to go on walks, but we limited them because of his hips. One time David and Lucky went on such a long walk that he came back with bloody paws and very sore joints. We vowed not to push him after that. Aside from grabbing the leash and going for a walk, Lucky preferred to be home. He became nervous leaving after awhile, probably because he had so many medical procedures in his life. The first time I left him to be groomed with Jade at Petsmart he freaked. I thought he would settle down once there. When Adam and I picked up the dogs, we thought we would take them to pick out a treat. All of a sudden Lucky had an explosive bowel movement in the aisle of Petsmart. We took him home and he continued having explosive bowel movements only bloody ones. This of course horrified me. The diagnosis: separation anxiety! I had never heard of such a thing. This led to me finding and hiring a mobile groomer. For years he was groomed in the driveway of his own home. Lucky also became very nervous each time he saw suitcases. We always made arrangements for someone to come by the house and care for Lucky and Bailey while we were away. Lucky would never have lasted in boarding. The first time I left Lucky for a vacation, I made him a promise that I would always return to him and we shook on the deal. That became our ritual and in ways a superstition that I knew he would protect the house and we would have a safe trip and in the end we would all reunite once more. Somehow this calmed me each time I left home, knowing Lucky would be waiting.

Lucky you would say was the head of the house. He owned the couch and owned the foot of the bed. When David would leave for work early in the morning, Lucky would slip into his spot and even rest his head on the pillow. Sometimes I would even feel a paw resting on my shoulder. He had free roam of the house. Later, when his knees and hips weakened, he was given his own room downstairs. We installed a doggie door so he could have access to a huge backyard and we adopted Bailey for him so he would never have to be alone. Of course, he opened his home to his cousins Jade, Pierre, Ren, and Ace. He was; however, so attached to me and jealous of my attention. I remember when Aunt Jean and Uncle John came to visit. We sat in "Lucky's room" and visited while he and Jade played out back. He must have felt ignored because he ran up to me carrying something in his mouth. I thought it was his favorite hot pink squeaky ball, but when I reached for it I realized he had actually brought me a piece of his dried up waste. He dropped it right there on my lap and stared at me panting with that ear to ear grin. I was so embarrassed and turned many shades of red while we all laughed over this. The doctor actually said it was a sign of affection. We wondered how Lucky would take to a new baby joining our family and when we brought Braden home from the hospital Lucky became a nervous nanny. Any time Braden would wake up in the middle of the night, Lucky was the first one awake. He would check Braden first, make sure I was awake, and he would then go and wake up David. He would cuddle with Braden and sometimes try to get away with swiping his baby blanket. He was so gentle with Braden and later with Michael.

When you finally take a step back and you see your best faithful loyal friend wasting away you know it is time. When your best friend has a terrified look in his eyes that is piercing through your core you know it is time. Lucky stopped eating. He began to struggle with his breath. The diagnosis was devastating and when you are told that there is no chance for remission let alone a cure, you know there is only possible outcome to this tragic situation. You know you would do anything at any cost if there was only something you could do. The only option at this point is to be grateful for the time, the everlasting memories, and the one final chance to do right by him and show him your unconditional love by ending his pain and suffering and sparing him the inevitable.

I did not say good-bye to Lucky last night...........I said be free and run and play. You are not in any more pain and you don't need to be afraid. You are the best friend I ever had. Thank you for being my Lucky Dog..........I was the lucky one to have been loved by you.

In memory of my beautiful boy

Lucky

May 15, 1997 -- June 12, 2007