Blogging is a time machine. You get to go back on a rainy day and say things that you couldn't say at the time. I have had the honor of knowing a once in a lifetime retriever-Will Gilson's Golden Dog Henry. Not that all our dogs don't have a special spot that only they occupy but Henry defined what I will forever know as the Heart of a Retriever- what sets the breed apart, what makes people covet them. I had convinced myself that Henry would see his 18th birthday in 2011 because he was as spry and more mobile as dogs half his age at 17 but he covered his illness well even as his body failed. There will be more Goldens in our lives but the benchmark for health, hunt and heart has been set at an unobtainable spot that only Henry will live on at.
BL 10/15/10