My Chocolate Lab, Best Dog Until the End

Last winter my chocolate lab Jebadiah passed away.  He was a wonderful dog, and I will really miss him.  Jeb was my best friend and the best hunting dog I ever had.

I would take Jeb out every season for wild turkey hunting in South Dakota. Jeb had many characteristics that made him a great dog.  He was intelligent, gentile and a great family dog.

Jeb was smart.  He always liked to play and was constantly bringing us his toys.  He was easy to train and was a great hunting dog. We trained him to retrieve food from the pantry.  He knew the word peanut butter.

Jeb was always gentile when retrieving birds.  He knew how to behave around my baby girl and later on around my infant son.  At Easter time Jeb would retrieve eggs without even a single crack.

Both of my kids loved to play with Jeb.  He was a very loving dog.  On our many trips around the country we always took him along.  Even our extended family loved Jeb.  During family reunions all the kids would play with him.

After many years of running around Jeb was diagnosed with hip dysplasia.  At first he had no symptoms at all, but after a while he experienced pain.  We didn’t know what was wrong with him, but the vet took and x-ray and that is how we discovered that he had hip dysplasia.  Jeb’s movement slowed down and eventually we had to buy him a pet ramp .  Jeb was able to use the ramp to get in and out of the car.

Eventually Jeb became lame and could not move.  We had to put him down after a time, which was difficult, but we knew he’d be in a better place.  To this day I still use his old pet ramp.  I made it into a gardening table.  When I garden I think of Jeb often and the many good days we had together.