Mom finally moved to La Grande Or in 1984, She meet my dad in 1999. She had always wanted a yellow lab. One day her friend Mike showed up in the bar she was working. He asked her if she would like to have a puppy, Mom told him she wanted a yellow lab pup, he smiled and said well I have one, Mom said, I want a female, he said I have a yellow female. The only problem was I wasn’t a purebred, My canine mom was a registered black lab and my dad was either a golden retriever or a yellow lab. A couple weeks later Mike shows back up at the bar with this adorable little yellow furball..Me!! Mom fell instant in love with me, so I went home to live with my new parents. They had this big huge yard for me to play in.

I was a very good puppy. I was house broken within 1 month and was allowed to stay in the house by myself at 5 months old I wasn’t a big time chewer, like a lot of dogs, especially labs. I was so willing to learn and please my new family.

At age 1 I started having a couple of medical problems. When I tried to lay on my tummy with my back legs stretched out behind me, it cause an extreme amount of pain. Mom took me to the vet and they found that the ball joint in my left hip had a flat spot on it and when I would try to lay like that, the spot pressed against some nerves in my hip, causing a lot of pain. I am known to be very high tolerant to pain, but with this I would cry really bad. My mom would sleep on the floor with me, until the pain would go away. I soon discovered that if I didn’t lay that way I had no pain. So that put a stop to me crawling under anything.

Around a 1 ½ years old I jumped out of the back of the pickup and jammed my front right shoulder. After an examination and x-rays, my vet could find nothing wrong. But I have suffered through the years with a shoulder problem, but it didn’t stop me from being a very rambunctious little girl When I turned 2, I changed, I started to slow down and take live a little easier. I never really barked. I did this little growling noise, Mom said I sounded lie Chewbacca from star wars. So when I needed out I growled. I was and still am, a very smart and fast learner. I loved to go for rides, swims, camping with my parents and walks I love my walks. At age 1 I taught my self a new trick that really worked on my parents. I would go and get my leash to let them know I needed to go for a walk. I still do all that today except the swims and walks are aot shorter

As the years passed I just got more smarter My smartness kind of scared my parents. They made remarks about me being too smart for my own good. I really still don’t know what they mean by that. I have a couple of faults, the biggest one is I loved to chase cats. Cats are a big problem to dogs. I found that out the hard way. At the age of 7, I went charging across the lawn after a cat, the cat made a sharp turn and so did I, but my foot stayed planted, but my body turned, causing a big time tear in my knee ligament. I limped a little, then I seem to be fine. During the next several months, I occasionally limped and would get better, then one day I started limping, then I wouldn’t use my leg at all. So Mom took me to the vet and that is when they said I had completely torn the ligament in my knee and had to have surgery. After surgery, I had a long recovery period of 4 months. The first 4 weeks I had to be in a very small pen, with just a few on leash potty breaks. After the 4 weeks I could roam the house, but still had to be on a leash during potty breaks for another 4 weeks. Then I was allowed to take very short walks and gradually increase the length of the walks. Finally after 4 months I was allowed off leash to run and enjoy my life again. But within 6 months I reinjured the same knee, chasing those darn cats, and ended back in surgery and do the whole recovery thing again.

Then 1 year goes by and it was 1 year exactly, I blew out my other back knee and had to do surgery again. Of course it there had to be another stange coat in the yard. Finally I recovered from all the surgeries, but arthritis had set in big time on the first injured knee causing it to get stiff. Through all the pain of the injuries and surgeries, I never cried once, except when Mom had to pull the tape off of my knees, which took both hair and skin I screamed like a banshee. Mom felt so bad she cried.

Finally my life got back to normal and I could enjoy life. I keep chasing cats, but had gotten a little slower at it. At age 11 in the spring, I got really sick. My liver enzymes went off the charts. I was given IV fluids to flush out my system. The vets could not figure out what was causing the liver enzymes to rise so high. They decided to perform an exploratory surgery and look at my liver. They told mom and dad that if it looked bad, I may have to be put down. Oh mom and Dad cried so much, but I am a fighter and I was not ready to go. They found nothing wrong with my liver. So as soon as the enzyme levels went back to normal I got to go home, but on a big time restricted diet. A prescription dog food was the only thing I could Have. No dog cookies, no nothing. My mom got creative and figured out a way to make cookies for me out of my dog food.

Well a year later about the same time as last year, my liver enzymes went off the charts again. So back on IV fluids and back home when the enzyme levels went back to normal. Once again during that year my levels crept back up, but I didn’t have to stay in the hospital. Mom had read an article about wheat grass and how much it helped patients with liver disease. So mom start me on wheat grass tablets and milk thistle. This year no liver problems. Mom knows the signs when my liver enzymes are starting to rise and so she just up the wheat grass and milk thistle doses and it has help my enzymes to return to normal. This has been a puzzle to my vets and to my parents. Mom said most likely we will never know why my liver was doing this. I also had surgeries to remove fat tumors. I have another one which has gotten really large on my side, back by my leg. Mom is afraid with my age and my liver problems, I may not make it through another surgery. So far it isn't bothering me, but she also has found two more small ones. Man I hate baths, mom always is checking gor lumps. Thank God they are not cancerous.

Well I just turned 13 May 5 2007. I am getting really crippled up with arthritis and have lost my hearing. I know hand signals, so I get along pretty well, as long as I see that hand signal meaning get your dish it's time to eat, I am perfectly happy. I am losing so much muscle in my hindquarters that sometimes I have a hard time getting up and down. I fall down easy, especially on slick surfaces. There are times mom and dad have to lift my butt up so I can get up. But you know what..I am not ready to leave this world not yet..there are more cats to chase..more car rides..more camping trips and a lot more walks. I have already out lived many labs. Mom said I could never be replaced as I am a one of a kind. There is only one thing my mom does not like about me...that is my hair..it is everywhere. Being a lab/golden retriever mix I shed extremely bad. Hey I just like sharing my fur. So whats wrong with a little lab hair in your peanutbutter sandwich. You come to my house you better not be wearing any dark colored clothes, or you will be taking part of me home with you. (hehehehe)