Lucky (Labrador Retriever): Part II

 In my last blog post, I talked about Labrador Retrievers, including a bit about the breed (and how awesome the breed is!) and also introduced you to Lu Jack, a black Labrador that belonged to my dad, and also to Lucky, whom I considered my first Labrador Retriever because like I mentioned before (maybe even several times before), I loved Lu Jack, but he wasn't my dog, technically speaking. Anyway, back to Lucky. In part one of this 2-part post, I told you that Lucky was possibly the smartest Lab I've ever met. Not only did he learn things quickly as a puppy, but that ability also followed him into adulthood...and even into his old age. Not to say that old dogs can't learn new tricks, because they can. It just takes a lot more effort, time, and patience to teach them when they've hit their senior years. Not with Lucky. 

I remember this one time when there was a thunderstorm going on, and let me tell you, Lucky HATED thunderstorms! He was absolutely terrified of them! Anyway, during this particular thunderstorm, Lucky happened to be outside when the storm started (I mean, he was an outdoor dog back then). Our house had a screen porch that wrapped around at least half of the house. Of course, there was the screen porch door, which separated the outside part of the outdoors from the screened-in porch area. Long story short, Lucky tore through the screen door to get closer to the house (and as far away from the thunder as he could get). Anyway, we tried to fix the problem by replacing the screen on the bottom half of the porch door with solid wood. Well, during the next big thunderstorm, Lucky destroyed that, too. So, my dad decided to bolt a handle at the base of the now-fixed porch door, and taught Lucky how to paw at the handle to open the door. Needless to say, it didn't take Lucky very long at all to learn how to use that handle. Oh, and by the way, Lucky was just getting into his senior years when we were teaching him to do this. 

Now, I could keep going on about all the amazing things Lucky did in his lifetime, but let's just cut to the chase: Lucky was just about the best dog I've ever had. He was smart, he was loyal, and just about everything you would expect a Labrador Retriever to be. Lucky was, and always will be, the best friend I've ever had. 




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