The End of An Era

Yesterday afternoon, my 12 year-old black lab, Chance, crawled under the deck, layed down and breathed his last. He was born on June 1, 1996 at my folks' house in Int'l Falls. At first, I spoke for Maki...the little female runt. She came to live with me when I got settled in my house in July.(I was still living in Chicago when they were born.) She was sweet and cute, but at thirteen weeks she had an episode that brought us into the vet immediately and she didn't get to go home with me. She had had a congenital defect and her little body had poisoned her blood. Jeesh. It had been a short time since I had put down my sick kitten, Garibaldi. I was so bummed out that I really struggled over getting another dog ...or... not putting myself through that again! After a bit of time spent with the remaining two puppies of the litter, I decided to try again. The family had been calling the pup "Remington," but I called him "Chance." My second chance. My last chance!



For twelve years, he was a faithful, guileless, lovey, rock-headed, half-blind friend. Back when I was dating, he helped me pick up guys. I don't think Mark would have had me if I hadn't been a "dog person." Then we ruined his life by getting Cobe, who immediately stepped up as the alpha male and bossed Chance around. Mind you, this started when Cobe weighed 10 pounds and Chance weighed 85. But they were brothers...playing and fighting, just like you would expect. Eventually, Cobe got them banished when he went bonkers on Katie. To the basement! They split their time between the back yard band their room for quite a few years. It wasn't a great quality of life, but Chance always stayed his dumb, happy self. Last winter, Chance started struggling with the stairs. A big old dog was bound to have trouble with his hips... Once it became a concern whether or not I could get him upstais in time to go to the bathroom, he came upstairs again and rejoined the family, so to speak. Owen had been very frightened of the dogs and he started to warm up to Chance. It was so cute. Katie had always been awesome with him and Abby was a real natural handler, too. All through the winter, spring and summer, Chance had his run of the house, lots of pets and cuddles and even a love affair with our bunny, Padme. It was a sweet time with lots of great photo ops! Those months reminded us of all the reasons you have a dog!


In July, he got sick...diarrhea and eventually not eating. I thought that was it for him. We talked at length with the kids about what might happen and just put off what we thought the inevitable decision would be until after Katie's birthday. Lo and behold, he perked up and got back to "full strength." Yeah, he had slowed down a lot and had dropped enough weight for it to be noticeable, but he was o.k. Life went on. Last week, he and Cobe went to the vet for their rabies and booster shots because I needed to get new city licenses for them. Doc was concered about Chance's weight loss, but there were no other signs of problems (to her obvious surprise.) On Wednesday night, Katie called to me and complained that Chance was making weird noises. She thought he had thrown up, but there was no mess. The next morning, he kind of did it again while we were eating breakfast (gross) so I let him outside in case he was going to be sick. It was a gorgeous fall day, so I left him out to enjoy it. At 5:00 or so, I put down his dish full of dinner and expected him to come prancing like always. He didn't. I called to him and he didn't answer. I checked the girls'room to make sure he wasn't shut in there, but there was no sign of him. I went out to the back yard and looked more thoroughly and that's when I spotten him. He just found a depression in the black dirt that kept him cool on hot days and called it quits.


Even in dying, my pooch was a sweet man. I had dreaded having to decide to have him euthanized and fully expected that the day would come. He made it as easy for us as he possibly could. He will be bittersweetly missed.

Chance (Remington) Bradseth Christiansen

June 1, 1996-October 2, 2008