Hello all,

It’s been a hard year for us here, having said goodbye to Rosie in January. Sadly we find ourselves saying farewell to our very first bird dog, Miss Molly. She wasn’t registered, and wasn’t all GSP – hence the long tail. But she had the heart of the purest shorthair and taught us what it was to love this breed. She never did have much of a nose, so we used to joke that she was our German Shorthaired Retriever, because oh man was she a retrieving machine! She once nearly drowned herself refusing to give up on a winged duck in water that was near freezing. There was no one like her for dove hunting, with her exceptional patience to just sit and wait to do her retrieving job when called upon.

She raised countless puppies and her role as “governess” teaching them manners was invaluable to us. Although none of those babies were hers genetically, she sure thought they were. She also raised our two hairless human children with the same love and compassion.

We knew it was coming, because her mobility was much decreased of late, although she didn’t give sign of being in serious pain. But Wednesday night, she made her own decision. She went out in the yard, quietly laid down with her head on her paw and simply went to sleep.

We will miss her greatly.

Blair, Jean, Drew and Lauren

Plus Thunder, Willow, JuneBug, Teejay, Gretchen, Ellie and Claire