Our Drake

We got Drake in February of 2005. Michael's cousin had his dog get pregnant with this incredible champion hunting dog, excuse my terminology I don't know all the right terms but it cost a lot of money to do this. Well after she delivered everyone wanted one of the pups, they were sent all over the nation, but no one wanted the runt. A few phone calls later I come home and Michael opens the door and this precious little black lab with a red bow on it runs straight to me. I started crying, I'm not a huge dog lover but something about how he ran to me I knew I wanted him. Michael was so scared he thought I was upset because I was going to have to tell him to give him back. Well Drake turned out to not be the dog I had imagined, I imagined us sleeping together, taking calm strolls and just having lazy days snuggled up...LOL. Drake wouldn't sleep with us, once he got bigger (almost 100 lbs) walks were so hard, he would pull me in every direction he would trip me and my ideas of lazy days were Drake licking all over me and pushing me down because he wanted me to pet him! But let me say that Drake would have risked his life to protect this family. Drake never NEVER barked, I think we had had him for almost two years before I heard him. And it was because there was a man at our door and it was the scariest noise I had ever heard. If Michael is away I'm not scared at all and it is because of Drake. Michael knew as soon as he got him that he wanted to train him and for Drake to be a hunting dog. Let me say Michael and Drake made the most unbelievable team. Drake was so smart and Michael was such a great trainer. Drake got to the point that Michael would hide a bumper without Drake seeing and then Michael could direct drake where it was by hand signals. I loved watching them together. This little runt ended up being an amazing hunting dog and had the body of the alpha dog! This February Michael took Drake and the kids to the park and when they got home we noticed drake was limping on his back leg. We thought he either stepped on something or he sprained his ankle. After a week and half later he was still limping we took him to the vet. The nurse said that his hip was dislocated and just to leave him and they would get it back in place. Michael went back to work and at the end of the day when he went to pick him up the vet told us that he had a tumor on his hip. It was very deep and he wouldn't want to do surgery because he was scared that he would paralyze drake. The vet told Michael that in the next couple of days don't be surprised if he can't walk anymore. We were devastated. We went and bought him a nice bed, the Dr. gave us pain medicine and we just wanted him to stay at home and be as comfortable as possible. Well a month passed and Drake was doing great. Michael and I started hoping that maybe it was just a cyst or a benign tumor and we would be able to have several more years with Drake. I took him back to the vet and they did a needle biopsy and said it looked very bad. Also the tumor had more than doubled in size. So we just continued keeping Drake as comfy as possible. The last couple of weeks we noticed Drake was starting to feel really bad. Sunday he lost all bladder control and wasn't able to have a BM. Michael took him to the Dr. Tuesday and we put him down. We are devastated, I miss him and my heart breaks apart for Michael. Drake and Michael adored each other and I know Michael will miss him for the rest of his life. I know the Bible isn't clear on whether or not our pets will be in heaven, but as my mother in law says "it just seems like something Jesus would do." So sweet Drake we love you and hope to see you again.