This is the story of Luke the German Shorthair/Chocolate Lab mix that came into our lives 14 years ago and left us just this morning. Luke was a rescue. His mom and all of his siblings but one brother died the day he was born. Luke was bottle fed and carried in a car for the first 8 weeks of his life by the Glaze family, who was his first human family. I knew Ann Glaze through a Bible study we took together and found out about Luke needing a new home when he was 6 months old. He had been living with Ann's sister-in-law and her family and he was getting big in a hurry. They weren't use to dogs and had never had one that promised to be as big as Luke was sure to get. So he came to live with us.
Luke first took up residence in our home as a 6 month old and was the cutest giant piece of chocolate I had ever seen. I knew when I called my hubby and asked "do you know anyone who wants a chocolate lab?" that the question was answered before it was ever asked! The day he came to our home was a sad day for his first adoptive family because they loved him and knew they just couldn't keep him. His little girl human was the saddest of all and she cried the whole time. There was another little girl human living in our home who would grow to love Luke and be one of his best buds for a long time.
Luke went to Puppy Preschool and just barely passed the class. He did not like to go to the down position for anyone by our older daughter Courtney and he went there for her after the first night learning it. Being the Alpha Male, he decided he would try his stubborness on me but he learned quickly that "when Mama speaks, you better move!" Luke had a human "litter mate" in my husband, Terry. They have played on the floor to the point of knocking each other out with their head butting sessions and took great naps on the floor together as one might see a little boy and his dog do. Luke loved to go for rides in the truck with Terry and would sit in the front seat like a human with his front paw resting on the window. Just two good buds hangning out together.
Luke's sleeping place at night for many years was half of a twin bed with our youngest daughter Sarah, the girl he attached himself to. When Sarah went away to college, Luke was lost for quite a while. But then she would come home for a visit and he had his girl back for a while. Sarah is married and has her own 4-legged kids now and brings them to see us occasionally. She still liked to love on Luke though!
This morning was one of the hardest of my life as I watched Luke slip away peacefully. The last few years have been hard for him as he was dealing with arthritis issues - common in most big dogs. Over the last couple of days, he as been a very sick boy and got worse through the night last night. We decided this morning that we needed to get him to the vet and while there, she told us what we already knew. She was almost certain Luke had cancer and was in a great deal of pain. She also thought he may have had a stroke over the last month because of some things she saw in him.
Luke had spent his last day on this earth and in our house. He will spend many more days in our hearts because that's just the way it is with these 4-legged friends we call pets. Yes, they can be messy and time consuming and a committment but when they leave their paw prints on your heart, you cannot wash them off so easily.
