Bo – A note of gratitude for a wonderful life

Hi, my name is Bo. As you can see from my picture, I am a yellow lab. I don’t remember much about my puppyhood but I do remember going to a place with lots of cages and other dogs. There was a nice man there and he called the lady from the Labrador rescue to come get me because he thought I was too nice to put to sleep. I didn’t know what that meant but I was glad to be out of the cage and into a nice home with the lady and her dogs and a couple of fluffy things called cats. I didn’t mind them, they were kind of fun to play with. Anyway, the lady took my picture and posted it on this thing called the internet so other people could see me.
I spent a couple of months with the new lady before a different lady sent a note saying she wanted to meet me. She and her husband had lost their beloved dog the previous year and they were lonely. She saw my picture and thought I looked like a nice dog so they came and brought me home with them. What a nice home, there was another of those fluffy things (a cat) and I was king of the castle. I wasn’t always a good boy, though. I had resource guarding issues and bit the nice lady on the arm. My bite left a huge bruise and they lady still has a mark there. I didn’t mean to hurt her but I made her cry and tell the other lady I might have to go back. Something changed her mind though. I guess she hoped I would trust her and be a good boy because I went to her and apologized the only way I knew how…I licked her face.
We got along really well after that. My new Mom (I called her Mom by now) would make sure there was nothing around for me to guard and I would play ball, go for rides, and sleep and eat all kinds of good things! It was a wonderful life.
Then the lady came across a picture of another dog that looked familiar to her. A female chocolate lab named Willa. I was going to get a sister! What fun! Willa came home last April. I was a little shy at first but I grew to like her.
Later that summer, just around August, I had a pain in my leg and started to limp. Dad took me to the vet and they gave me pills to make the pain go away, and it did. But only for a short time, then it came back. Dad took me to the vet again and they took pictures of my leg while I was asleep. Dad called Mom and the vet told them I had something called bone cancer. I didn’t know what it was but they said they could keep me comfortable with pills but that they were very expensive and would not cure the cancer. Mom and Dad said they didn’t care, they would feed me the pills in cheese. Mmmm, I love cheese. I didn’t even taste the pills and they kept the pain away.
About six months later, I stopped eating. Mom and Dad knew what that meant. It was time for me to go. They took me to the vet and she said that I must have broken my leg. I was suffering and even though they loved me and wanted me to stay, Mom and Dad agreed to let me go. Don’t cry Mom. I will never forget you or Dad, or Willa or even the furball. I will be waiting for you, I love you, thank you for loving me.