Annie's Page

This is Annie - we had her for 19 years. She was a wonderful friend and companion. She was a born retriever, loved her family and our youngest son Timothy in particular. They were somewhat raised together. She didn't like children very much, but she loved Timothy's daughters Nicole and Savannah.

She worked as a Therapy dog but was not as good as Olivia, she thought she should protect the patients from the nurses.

We showed Annie in conformation, which is like a canine beauty pageant and she did very well. She was first place and won the points, in her first show and I thought that she would get her title very quickly. I found out that there were a lot of good dogs out there that she had to compete against.

She loved to chase a ball and retrieve it. When our son Timothy was shooting baskets she would try to retrieve the basketball. She never thought she was to small, she thought she could do anything.

Annie developed cataracts in both eyes and for all practical purposes was blind. I would take her on walks, kind of reverse leader dog, she wore a harness and as long as the leash was tight she would walk right along. You couldn't tell she was blind. If I let the lease get a little slack she would stop, she relied on me to guide her. The picture below was taken when we in for a check up after having cataract surgery, with implants.

In the picture below, Dr. Dan Lorimer, who did Annie's eye surgery, is holding her. He is absolutely the best.

When Annie was older, about age 15 or 16 she couldn't wait at home while we went on an all day motorcycle ride. So we bought a pet carrier, made by T-Bag and she went with us everywhere. If we were on a group ride and she barked, I would signal that I was dropping out, pull off to the side and let her go potty -- then catch back up to the group. She got to enjoy riding and was always happy to go. The picture below was taken on her first group ride. She's wearing her Harley t-shirt.

The picture below was taken at her first all breed dog show--at 6 months old.