I and my family also adopted a dog before he has sent back to an unknown fate.

My wife and myself have always had animals as we grew up,however I’d never had my own dog until I was 31 years old. Long story short, when we meet, she had a Labrador and the idea came to me that two coupleswould be a good idea. WE picked out a Chocolate Lab puppy from a friend as a date and took him home a couple weeks after that.He was named Chuck (a combination of Chelsy and Buck, his parents name). Before we moved to Florida we hade 3 Labs and 3 cats.
Fast forward to 2004. As will happen with all animals, a time comes where the end has to be dealt with. This is not easy nor pleasant because we all know that a dog’s mind is still sharp while their body deteriorates to a point of no return. It is a quality of life issue that has to be addressed however Painfull and Tearfull.

The two of us came to the point that we knew it was time to make Chuck more comfortable. This was especially hard for me (he was my First dog).

I carried Chuck into the Vet. in my arms that day We had called ahead to make sure the office would have as few people around as poosible because we knew tears would be flowing, they were. When we entered the office there was a Sheriffs K-9 deputy in the waiting room. We continued on to the exam room and the final good bye was performed.

We left through a side door to our car a cried some more. As we stood there the Deputy came up and talked to us and related that he understood our pain and said he too had tears when he saw us come through the door with Chuck. After we became composed a bit, he mentioned a dog would be available for adoption when the time was right.

Every night from that point on I noticed a message on the Vets.billboard about a Lab for adoption as I went home home. After a month I stopped and asked to see the Lab. I was taken back to the kennel to see him. He was about 2 years old and could have been Chuck’s brother! I called my wife and daughter and asked them to stop by on their way home to see Dropper?(Deputy/Trooper combination name). He was a Belgian breed Lab that failed out of bomb/drug training and was on his way back to the supplier but was saved by the Deputy’s wife who worked for our Vet (the same Deputy who had talked with us when we took Chuck in). The girls(wife/daughter) fell in love as I did and I picked him up the next day.

I took him to my fire training right after I picked him up to see how he would react to to the noise of 2 engines and lots of new people to make sure he was OK with people and such,TROOPER at this point(not Drooper) was not phased at all. He was very friendly and not rattled then and has never been since, even during our two hurricanes. He has turned out to be the THE most mellow, loving bigger dog a Family with frequent child visitors could hope for for.

– Kent from FL