I went for a walk this morning, I didn’t want to but I did. I didn’t want to because I knew our lab, Belle Jaune, was going to cross over to the other side today. She had an inoperable and untreatable bone cancer. We found out about 3 weeks ago. She was able to enjoy one more long weekend at the cabin over the 4th and has been her normal smiley self this whole time, even when she couldn’t use one leg, then another or do most of her favorite things, including eating in the last day. She was 6 and a half, and I’m devastated.
I’ve grown up with yellow labs my whole life, first was Presto who we got from the pound. She was a hunting machine and a great family dog for 10 years. Pocus came next and she was everyone’s dog. Literally. From visits to Sartell High School, the Sartell PD, interrupting Sartell football games to her later years with me in college and then at my brothers for the end of her 12 years.
But Belle was mine. And my wife’s. She was born soon after we started dating and was a major reason we moved in together when we did, since she had an unfinished basement perfect for a puppy. Belle Jaune means Yellow Beauty in French and she was named after our cabin lake on Lake Belle Taine (Silver Beauty). Belle and I spent many a morning walking thru Frogtown or Como, and found a perfect park for off leash training in the middle of St Paul where I taught her what I could so she’d be a hunter. And she was. At 8 months old she made her first trip to a game farm and I saw the light go on. She wasn’t a field champion by any means, but she was solid as a rock. She was like most labs in her love of water, and on one of her first fishing trips with me she jumped in Leech Lake right around opener and the corresponding 38 degree water. She never made that mistake again!
Belle was the happiest dog I’ve ever known, and would play fetch for days. When we moved to Chaska she was probably the most excited for a big backyard to play in. She stayed a puppy right until my son was born, and she was so sweet to him right away. Her bff Ruby (our boxer) was indifferent, but Belle had nothing but love. I was so excited for my son to grow up with such a wonderful dog at his side, and just always assumed Belle would be there for him until he was 6-8 years old. But we don’t get to choose these things. The universe does, and it was her time to go home. I will always think of her and laugh at her goofy smile and little scarred snout. Til we hunt again Belle!
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