Halle Blackberry

Today we said goodbye to our Lab Halle.  My chocolate Lab, Wynona, had a litter of pups in September, 1998.  Tom and I had only been married a few months.  We decided to keep the little black runt of the litter and Tom spent every day after work obedience training her and training her to be his first bird hunting dog.  Halle is the reason he got into bird hunting - a hobby he's now enjoyed for over 14 years.  One by one our old line of labs passed away but Halle kept on going.  She even had her last litter of pups at age 10.  She was constantly running her 'track' around the outside of our house.  We really saw her age just this last year, losing her hearing and some sight and a lot of weight and we weren't sure she'd survive the heat this summer and make it to move to our new home ~ but she stayed tough and made the move - even kept on running and made a new 'track' around the new house.  She was able to walk, eat and drink until the end and after breakfast this morning, she went to sleep in her dog house - where she felt the most secure - and didn't wake up.