Sarah The Yellow Labrador Retriever In Our Lives

Like any little boy, my son Darrell decided he wanted a dog of his own. After looking through a book of dog breeds, he decided that a Labrador was the dog for him. I've had many bad experiences with dogs I have owned and now I do research whenever it has been decided that a new dog will join our family. I strongly feel that you must match the characteristics of the breed to your lifestyle and know as much as posible about what to expect. Anyway, after spending hours on the internet and the phone learning everything I could about Labradors, we decided that "yes" Darrell could have his dog and Sarah came to live with us in the summer of 1999.

It was interesting the first few weeks. Twister did not know what to think of this little yellow thing walking underneath her and biting at her legs. I couldn't help but think that Twister was now learning how I felt when I got home from work and couldn't walk to the house because she was under my feet. Eventually they became great friends. Running out the door together, sleeping on MY bed together, exploring the yard, etc. It's not unusual to look out the window and see one of them running at full speed across the lawn carrying something in her mouth, and the other one in hot pursuit. I personally fail to see why the flower pot they usually run around with is such a prize, but I'm sure they don't always understand the things I do.

Ever seen a car going down the street with a dog hanging it's head out of the window? Well Sarah puts a little twist on that. My Grandfather bought a golf cart to use to get around the yard and Sarah has become his passenger. She absolutely loves riding on it. It's not unusual to see her sitting patiently on the seat, waiting for Gramp to finish up what he's doing and take her for a ride. I've even seen my Grandmother hanging off of the edge of the passenger seat so there's room for Sarah to go for a ride. Spoiled? Just a little bit. This made me a little nervous when we decided to take her to the company golf tounament, but she behaved herself and only hopped on the one that belongs to our friends

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sarah. To me it looks like her shadow is howling. Sarah has become a wonderful addition to our family. She is intelligent and loving. She thinks she's a lap dog, but we're working on that. That and fetching a tennis ball. We are now waiting for a chance to take her camping to see if she'll enjoy wading through the creeks at the mountains as much as we do. This could cause a little bit of a problem when we're trying to catch fish, but it's worth it just to have her around.

UPDATE: September 19th, 2000.

We finally got a chance to take Sarah on her first camping trip to Rocky Mountain House. The ride there was interesting since both dogs thought they should ride in front and sniff the air coming from the vents, but we managed to make it there in one piece. Sarah is definately a water dog. She walked right in to the river when we got there. I don't think she really liked being on a leash the whole time(and I think that's why she decided to get her revenge by stealing our bed), but she did manage to take the kids for a few short runs when she spotted squirrels. Lucky for the kids, the squirrels tend to climb trees to get away rather than run for long distances.