Some of may have already heard that my hunting season ended with the tragic lost of Tule, my 15 month old chessie. I had gone over to Idaho for a week of bird hunting with Mac's brother Pete in Orofino. We started off with a chukar hunt on the Snake River and then went down towards Boise to visit an English setter kennel to check it out. I ended up putting a deposit down on a pup from a repeat breeding that should occur in April. Pete's good friend has a great dog that came from the previous breeding of these dogs.

After spending the night in a motel, we headed back to the Salmon R. for another hunt. I'll never forget that day, but unfortunately for heart breaking reasons. I took Tule along with Will and Gallo just for the exercise and to help with retrieving duties. He was doing just fine for the first hour, then he made a couple of strange leaps, keeled over, convulsed a little, went stiff and quit breathing. I tried CPR, but within about a minute he was dead. I couldn't believe it. He's never had even the slightest sign of health problems. I'd had him neutered just a month before, and no problem there. I carried him a mile back to the truck, just dumb-struck the whole way. This was on Sat., so on Monday I took him to a local vet in Orofino and had a necropsy done. Turned out he had a congenitally defective heart (the right ventricle was flabby, stretched etc.). So there was obviously nothing that I could have done differently, and thankfully he died doing what he loved and didn't suffer a bit. I guess all dog deaths are untimely, but his seems especially so. Tule was such a nice mellow dog; got along just great with kids, all people, other dogs. etc. He had great hunting potential, and I knew he'd be a wonderful companion. The house isn't the same without him nudging my arm for a pet, having a rousing wrestling session with Gallo, or looking for something to pick up off the floor to bring to me. I continued hunting for the next 4 days (I figured I owed it to Will and Gallo since this was the last hunt of the season), but Tule was never far from my thoughts. It's probably a good thing I'm typing this on the computer so that the writing paper doesn't show the tear stains. I know you're all "dog people" and will understand - what sweet and endearing critters they are. He is missed! I think I'll go "love up" Will and Gallo. I know you all will be treasuring your pets.