Remembering Canie. . .

We just recently had to put our beautiful Chocolate Lab to sleep. Her name was Canie she was almost 15 yrs. old. This was a very hard decision that my husband and I had to make. We loved her so much. She was our first animal after we got married. My husband always wanted a big dog he only had little dogs growing up. (Poor baby). All I had was big dogs growing up so I knew how much trouble they would be. He was in for a treat. This was one of those I told you so moments. I have only had a few of those with him. We moved in to a new house right after we were married and he immediately started looking for a big lab. We had a nice big back yard that could handle a large dog. It was our garage that was not ready for those big puppy teeth. She chewed everything. If it was wood she had her mouth on it. We tried everything to keep her off of it including putting hot sauce on it. She liked hot sauce. We fenced in our back yard so she would have plenty of room to run. My husband planted Cypress trees in the back yard about 20 of them. Everyday Canie would meet him at the gate with one in her mouth so happy to see her Daddy. She dug up every one of them. Needless to say that was an I told you so moment. We decided at two we would breed her and let her have a litter of puppies. She had 11 puppies right after Christmas. They all lived. We sold all but one of them. We kept a yellow male. His name is Jake. My boys grew up with Canie and Jake. Jack would chase Canie and grab her tail she never minded it either. She was very easy going. My husband always wanted a dog that would fetch. Canie did fetch but only when she wanted to. Not when he wanted to. She was funny that way. She was very loving though. The year we had the big ice storm and the power was out for several days he got the bright idea that she would keep us warm. We had moved our mattress into the living room in front of the fireplace. He let her in and she ran upstairs we got her under the covers with us and she rolled over and all four legs just running and through all the covers off. Ah, again and I told you so moment. We left her in the garage one day and somehow the door to the house did not close and she got in. She was probably in the house alone for several hours. We found teeth marks on the remote, she licked the stove, she had moved things from one room to the other, and she had taken ornaments off of the tree and chewed on them. We found things miss placed for weeks. Another I told you so moment. The dogs never really barked unless they needed too. When I say that I mean, Canie only barked at strange cars, snakes, and smoke. So we always new when someone was cooking out or when someone drove up in our driveway. She did save us one night. She began barking about midnight on a Saturday night and I made Mark go out and check. He went downstairs and he was going to shock the dogs in to not barking. So he threw open the door and yelled really loud, "Stop that". Much to his surprise two heads popped up from between our cars. Our neighbors kids were trying to break into our cars. Now how is that for a surprise. I think he scared those boys as much as the dogs and himself. The dogs got the Royal treatment from that point on.

Jack was very sad the day Canie died. He cried and he wanted her back. He did not understand how much pain she was in due to the pancreatitis. She was very sick. Mark and I both cried and I still cry some days when I think of all the things she has done and all she meant to us as a family. I have a lot of pictures of her and we will always tell stories of her just as I have told you. These are only a few of the stories of Canie. She was a great dog, friend, mother, and protector. My sister said it best when she said, "We are here to take care of and protect our animals in life and in death." She was trying to ease my pain in the decision we had to make.

Canie you will be missed! We love you! Craters' Cajun Hurricane September 9, 1994- May 29, 2008