Zen

Zen (Master Zen Guppie)
Labrador Retriever (Yellow)
Born: May, 1994
Rainbow Bridge: November, 2005

Zen was a wonderful boy. He joined our home at 8 weeks old. From when we picked him up to the moment he went to Rainbow Bridge, he was my boy. A friend to all people and dogs, he would go out of his way to greet anyone and everyone; running up to them with his ball in his mouth saying "Come on - throw it". He was the favourite of puppies joining our evening playgroup because he was so playful and gentle.

When he was about 5 months old we met up with one of our neighbors who also had a black lab cross (Jesse). Her birthday was within 2 weeks of Zen and they got to be very good friends. We walked every night; went to obedience school together (many, many sessions); Jesse was Zen's best friend all of his life.

For the first 3 years of his life he went to work with us everyday. Here are the things he learned there:
1. That lady at the front desk has nice panty hose; good for dental floss.
2. If someone's lunch is left unattended it must be mine.
3. If I sit nice by someone's desk while they're having lunch, i'll probably get a little bit if mom and dad aren't looking.
4. The lunch truck guy; he runs a tab for me.. mom just pays him at the end of the week.
5. If I close a desk drawer or carry something for someone; I'll probably get a cookie.

He was the official greeter and a great worker. My husband later started his own home based business so Zen got to stay home and go to work at the same time.

His favourite toy was a blue racket ball; we of course tried others; we started off with a flexi-frisbee and that was ok for a while; then we found racketballs and that was even better. Of course, I had to carry around a racketball racket to be able to huck the thing far enough to get him tired (yes, this was before chuckit's were popular). He spent his whole walk twice a day every day chasing and retrieving his racket ball. As the years passed, it took less and less time to get him tired; but he always had to at least carry his ball.

When he was 5 1/2 years old we got him a little brother (Zathrus). He was an extremely gentle with him as a puppy and a good example on how to behave. He taught Zathrus how to behave so we hardly had to do any training with him.

We did everything together and he was such a good boy. He was also pretty healthy throughout his life.

In the last year of his life he started having difficulty walking. Our vet did all he could for him and as his condition deteriorated we got him a wheelchair so that he could still come out for a walk every night.

He hung on while he could and when it got too much for him we let him go. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life.

His friend Jesse followed Zen 1 week after he left. We miss her too.