The early morning hours of January 26,
2003, brought a horrible sight -- our big, loveable Louie lay near death from some unknown cause. As we rushed him to
the emergency vet some 20 miles away, we told him we loved him, stroked his head, and cried. Moments before we arrived
at the vet, Louie died. We will never know for sure why (the cost of an autopsy would have been astronomical),
the vet could only speculate that he may have been poisoned or his kidneys shut down from some acute medical problem.
Louie was extremely people friendly, and
at 22 months old was developing his working abilities. He was changing every day, and was being trained
for weightpulling with an eye on obtaining his BST once he matured more. We were letting Louie be a pup as long
as he needed to be, and we were enjoying every moment with him.
Louie was a UKC Champion, having obtained that title on September
30, 2001, at the age of 6 months. We do not know of any other AB that has become a champion that young. We were
hopeful of obtaining the important ABA Champion title as well, together with a BST and an IWPA weightpull title.
Louie had fathered a litter of pups with our Ruby Doll that were born
on October 29, 2002, and we were fortunate enough to be "left" with one male pup. Our Rowdy Rudy is a reminder every
day of our Louie through his wonderful temperament and playful personality.
Although we will never know why Louie died, one thing we know for
sure -- we will never forget our big huggable, loveable Louie!
