I took this pic the day before we took her to the vet for the last time. She kinda looks content, but this is all she could muster.
Here's how she'll be remembered by me and others:
Me and that old girl had a lot of fun together back in the day when birds and time were plentiful. The day she died everyone reflected on their favorite memories:
- Isabel: Reba rubbing her chin along the length of the couch and chair to dry it off after getting a drink of water
- Emma: Sleeping with her front end on the floor and her rear end on the hearth of the fireplace
- Carla: Every morning Carla let the dog out, fed her, and gave her dog biscuits. Upon re-entering the house, up until the very end, Reba would come in like a pup, running around with way too much enthusiasm for a 14 yr. old dog
- Calvin: The way her lip would hang up and she'd walk around looking like a doofus (Of course she didn't know and really didn't care.)
Those were the later in life memories; earlier memories include:
- Stuart: Picking her up when he bought her and seeing the mass hysteria of all the puppies
- Stuart: Her slashing across the course in Kansas on her way to winning the Derby stakes
- Calvin: Her being on point while standing in a pond
- Calvin: The "what the fuck" look she gave me when she pointed a covey of about 50 birds and I emptied my gun, reloaded, emptied again without a single dead bird! (My father in-law did the same thing. I think we both got a tad too excited!)
- Losing her in Sand Springs for about three hours only to find her on point, on her belly, with a bird about 3 inches in front of her face. (I of course missed that one too and got another "WTF" look from her.) Her and this bird must have had a serious détente. For a dog and quail to be eye to eye, with the dog on her belly, means that one: they'd been there awhile, and two: Reba moved very slowly and subtly to be able to go from standing to laying without the bird flushing.
She was obviously a special dog that meant more than just a good meal to a lot of people.
Your extended family will miss you honey.
I can still picture days like this:
3 comments:
These are only a few of the memories of this great dog. My 3 daughters, Kati, Lee Ann and Jerri grew up following this dog, many days, with all 3 riding the one horse that I owned and Calvin and I walking along side of them so we could hunt. Reba was one of those great young competitors in the field trial game, went on to be a great hunting dog and best of all became the best friend that many of may ever have even though she was "just a dog". Reba may be gone but will live on forever in my heart and mind. He mentions Kansas but not the 4 or 5 hour drive up for a 30 minute run to see if she could beat the best of the best. He also fails to mention the light snow or freezing rain nor the fact that she won the event and it was only a 30 minute drive home because we were so excited.
I hope she has gone back to the prairies where she can run as a young puppy with that tail flying through the breeze and a couple of lucky hunters walking along just watching her run and living in the moment.
I only had the privilege of hunting with Reba on a couple of occasions. She was a great bird dog! Growing up I helped my dad train bird dogs so I have seen good ones and bad ones, and Reba was a great one. My heart goes out to her family.
thanks guys
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