Wyatt Szarek 2002-2011

 

This big pile of chocolate love is Wyatt.  He was a textbook lab and more! Loyal, loving, great with kids, and protective.  Wyatt was born on January 2, 2002 in a little of 9 chocolate labs.  We picked him because he winked at David!!   We brought him on Valentines day of that year – in a snow storm!  He was so tiny only 12 pounds – but he quickly grew to 100 pounds!

When David and I were engaged we knew we wanted a lab – we just didn’t know what color. Okay – really I wanted one of each color!! David was watching a hunting show and they were training some labs owned by Kevin Costner. The big one was named Wyatt. We loved the movie Wyatt Earp staring Costner! right then and there we knew we would name our lab Wyatt. We new our lab need to be a big strong Lab with a noticable presence.  Wyatt was all that..Big feet, stocky built and a big block head.

Like normal young labs he was full of energy, after dinner each night we would walk him to the back hill to get some of the energy out.  He loved going in the truck especially when it took us camping.  He climbed Bald Mountain more times then I can count and Rocky Mtn twice. 

While camping – Wyatt earned the name “Brown Dog”  that was really what we wanted…a brown dog. Do you remember the Chevy Chase movie – I think it was called funny farm – where they were trying to sell the house and the wife purchased him a big old yellow dog that just slept?  In the end that was how he was but early on he was nuts.  Chasing ducks, digging out stumps and coming out of the woods with a log instead of a stick like another dog would do.

Wyatt was great with the kids!  Tyler practically rode him like a horse.  From the time Tyler was little till just this week, it was nothing to see Tyler laying on Wyatt like a pillow.  They were best buds!  Both kids used Wyatt to climb up onto the couch and to eat their food of their plate that they didn't like.  Emma made a game of it!  In recent months the game at our house each night was the kids each getting milk bones and running down the hall to hide them.  Then Wyatt would sniff them out.

Wyatt passed on Friday Night – it was so painful for us.  He ate a rock, something he has always done.  But this one became stuck in my intestines, he ended up tearing 15 feet of intestines that were not repairable because the found cancer in him.  David and I took it the hardest.  Emma is just to little to really understand, and tyler had a lot of questions.  For David and I , its heartache.  Wyatt was our first born!!  We babied him, spoiled him, loved him and took his role in our life for granted.

Wyatt has slept on our bed since he was a few months old.  He was the best foot and bed warmer I know.  I loved coming home to the sound of his tail almost breaking the molding on my door frames!!  Wyatt could not stand it if I was out of his reach.  He would be find if David was in the Garden but if I walked down there he would bark and bark till I returned.  When I would run at night on the treadmill he would lay there till I was done.  He loved that even though I was running and not really paying any attention him it was his “Me time with mommy!” 

One time David was putting up a tree stand in the woods behind our house and I needed him to come home.  He didn’t take his cell phone.  So I hooked a walkie talkie to his collar and told Wyatt to find daddy.  He sniffed him right out!!  Wyatt was better then Lassie.  In September 2007 it was unseasonably hot, I had worked sick hours at work and passed out in my kitchen late at night (11pm).  David was sleeping and didn’t hear me crash into the counter, cabinets and floor.  Wyatt nudged me, whined and stood with me till I woke up.  I can not account for over 20 minutes of my life that night.  Thankfully my loyal buddy was right there with me.  He was like my shadow when I was pregnant with the kids.

The house is not the same without Wyatt.  Sometimes I forget he is gone.  I told Emma to pick something up before Wyatt ate it today,  When I walked in, I waited for him to greet me at the door.  Its like part of my life is missing. 

We will always miss Wyatt, and we will never be able to replace him.

We love you brown dog, we miss you…..thank you for being part of our lives!