Luke and Leia puppies

Loving Leia: This is one of my favorite photos of Hayden with Leia

in the dog crate. Now that Luke is gone, she is becoming much closer
to me. Luke wouldn't let any dog get close to me but he loved the
children. He was possessive and protective. He was MY dog and he
claimed ME. Now, Leia is getting all the love and attention. We are
getting closer. I know you shouldn't have favorites but Luke loved me
so much it was hard not to favor him. Leia loves us both equally, but
I'm learning to love her more each day. She will do anything for
affection and now she has our undivided love.

March 27

Pillow?  What pillow?  I didn't see a pillow!

March 25

Getting litter mates was not a good idea, in retrospect.  They riled each other up and got into more trouble together as you see from this feather pillow episode. It's amazing how many feathers are in a pillow!  They were like " Marley and me"  X two.  They reinforced puppy behavior; jumping, licking, leaping, nipping  and... Drum Roll...........  Chewing!  That's the subject for another day. Without an older dog around to keep them in line and teach them how to behave, they remained perpetual puppies for a long time.  I guess you could call it arrested development.  Our neighbors called them the clowns.  Send 'em in.  I could use a little laugh.

What is it about grief?  If you hold it in, does it build up inside like repressed anger, frustration, suppressed emotions?  Or does it  eventually fade away in time like everything else?   I usually indulge myself in tears and grieving at the beginning;  like I will use it up or something.  Thinking, maybe I'll get over it faster this way if I let it all out? I do feel better after a good cry.  And I tend to cry a lot.  Just ask Dard.   Right after Bruno died, we got together.  Poor guy.  His friends said, "You didn't marry a widow, did you?"  The logic is this;  Her husband becomes a hero or Saint.  Divorcees are far from idolizing their exes,  like " Do you know what that  *#^%&$* did?"

 I'm now  pretty much past the crying stage with Luke.  The first week, aside from the tears, I felt fairly strong and positive. Soothing myself with  comforting thoughts, like  " He really didn't suffer long.  It was his time.  He is in a better place.  It was meant to be.  His spirit  has evolved and passed on to a higher level of existence.  His soul has achieved its purpose so it's time for him to go. He had a happy life,  etc"   Then  I was blindsided by a couple of depressed days  Couldn't shake the sadness. Couldn't sleep.  ( I could eat, though! too bad!)  Didn't feel like doing anything.  Had trouble concentrating.  Now, it's the 3rd week and I'm feeling pretty good.  No more tears.  Time to share the joyful memories.  This is a fun one, but it wasn't at the time.  We had feathers in the yard for weeks.  Maybe now he has feathered angel wings.  After all, he was a bird dog!

March 24,

They were 2 of 10 pups.  Purebred Labrador Retrievers with no papers, not that I ever cared about that.  She was the last of 3 females.  5 males remained.   Luke was the biggest but that's not why we chose him.   He had the shortest fur.  After we lost Kili,  (a Husky in Hawaii) I vowed to get a short hair dog.  The puppies all looked pretty similar except for Luke.   We were told they were black nosed curlies and he was a brown nosed shorthair.   There was just something about his eyes.  The others were playfully romping at our feet when Luke walked up the 5 steps to the lanai and plopped down, like he owned the place.  Contrary to the usual puppy selection advice, ie. pick the one that comes to you,  I picked him.  He was the biggest  by far and  we think she was the runt.  So submissive,  she will  roll over if you look at her.    He was the big bully and she was used to being picked on.  Funny combination for a pair of pets.  That's how it would go in the wild, though.   Survival of the fittest.  " Yes, the strong gets more  While the weak ones fade. Empty pockets don't ever make the grade."  Sound familiar? Are we putting a new twist on nature?  Has it become survival of the richest?  Are the wealthy stronger, wiser, better than the rest of us?

 "Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own."    Billie Holliday

From the beginning, Luke dominated Leia.  As you see, he always had the upper hand, or paw, as it were.

We had to give them treats or chewies separately because he would take hers.  It got to the point that when she saw him coming, she would drop whatever was in her mouth at the sight of him. So, now...

 Here comes Pollyanna.  You will be hearing from her often in this Blog:  

 Maybe that was one of Luke's gifts in passing.  Now, Leia can get all the attention and have us to herself.  Luke would rarely let her get really close to me, unless he was too lazy to bother, which was becoming more often. But, basically, he claimed me as his person and let no dog near me.  We always said, "Leia craves so much attention.  She should be the only dog in a family." 

 Now, she is.

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Luke was a  Master hunter.   Driven to hunt.  He lived for it.  From a dead sleep, he would wake up and bound down the stairs, amazingly  fast for a big clumsy looking fellow.  I've seen him catch a mongoose with his paws.  They are mean and fast.  Anything was game:   Birds, (sad)   chickens, (not quite as sad)   Roosters   ( Not sad at all.  In fact, after he brought home a chicken,  I said,  "Luke why don't you get that noisy rooster who wakes me up all the time?"  And 2 days later, he did.)