The Story of Rebound

Once upon a time, a boy and a girl fell in love and the boy asked the girl if he could get a dog. He'd always wanted one but growing up on a busy road, his parents didn't think it was a good idea. (Smart parents.) The girl said yes, of course. She wanted a Yorkshire Terrier. He wanted a Rottweiler. They settled on a Labrador Retriever. Her friends said "he won" :)


Rebound was born on March 3, 2003 to a family that we go to church with. We told them we were interested in a puppy and wouldn't you know they started a Bible Study in their home that we were a part of just a week or so after the puppies were born. Every week and sometimes more than once a week, Husband and I (and often Dawson ~ who was TERRIFIED of dogs) would play with the puppies, watch them interact and try to figure out which one we would take home with us to live forever.



Each week we grew closer and closer to two. One yellow and one black. We debated back and forth about the pros and cons to each but ultimately it came down to.... one of the little boys in the family who owned the dogs was VERY attached to the yellow puppy. We decided WE didn't want to be the ones to take a puppy from a little boy so we picked the black one. The fat, lazy, sleepy, relaxed black one...



Just shy of his 8 week birthday the family GIFTED him to us and we took him home the last night of our Bible Study. Husband was on April break so it was a perfect time. He'd be with him all week to get him used to our home and start the potty training. He sat on my lap on the way home in the "Dakota" and we talked about how he'd be leaving his Mama and litter mates. We'd brought a little towel that we'd rubbed down his Mom, brothers and sisters with and we were prepared for a long night of crying and getting up with our baby.


At bedtime we put him in his crate in our bedroom and didn't hear another PEEP out of him. He knew. He knew we were his and he was ours... Husband got up to take him out potty (which he'd set his alarm for... Rebound didn't even cry) a couple of times that first week. But he never cried. He wasn't "normal". I think there was a total of 2 accidents in the house that first week and then he was potty trained (good job HUSBAND :). He wasn't "normal". He NEVER chewed ANYTHING in the house other than his toys. Not the couch, not a shoe, not a door frame. Nothing. He wasn't "normal". We used to just STARE at him when he was a puppy. He was SO cute and SO fun. It was a HOOT watching him try to maneuver the stairs and Husband carried him up and down for quite some time.



Because the nieces and nephews were so young when we got him and we wanted him good with kids we spent a lot of time working with him on showing no aggression. It didn't take much. He wasn't "normal". We taught him to wait for his food until we said "OK" and when he started to eat we'd stick our hands in his dish, we'd have the kids stick their hands in and we'd pat him and play with his tail and ears.


He grew up knowing he had to be gentle around the kids and I think he just GOT IT. We spent one afternoon/evening at MIL's with the kids running all over the place and as a puppy he just wanted IN on the action... and those puppy teeth are SHARP. Husband made him sit and stay and understand that he couldn't be all up in their business and he had to be careful.


Thank goodness he did. At Rebound's 3 month Vet appointment our BELOVED Vet told us that you could pretty much double his weight and that was how big our dog would be. Rebound was right around 30 lbs at that appointment and Husband walked out TICKED. :) He just kept saying over and over, LOOK at his paws... there is NO WAY this dog is ONLY going to be 60 lbs. As most of you know... He wasn't "normal" and our baby at his prime was 120 lbs of sheer muscle who had NO idea he was that big.


He loved the special treats of getting on the couch or snuggling with us in bed because these were things that were not allowed :) He LOVED to go between your legs and do figure 8's so that you'd pat him and rub him down. He and TiTi had a special bond that would force MIL to vaccum after they were done. Rebound would get between her legs and she would scratch and pat him so that there would be PILES of hair all over HER, the floor and anyone who walked by.


At our house once he said hello at the door, he'd lay down and that was it. We got the big lazy one that's for sure.



Rebound spent the first 5 years of his life Monday through Friday during the school year with FIL. They gardened together, NAPPED together, sat outside together and LOVED each other. Rebound was right by his side when he went to meet Jesus and that was a HUGE comfort to the entire family.



When he wasn't at FIL/MIL's house he was with Husband. When he wasn't able (which those times were pretty few and far between) to be with us, he was with the CountryRents, JJ & J, L & L or Bets and fam. He was RARELY left home alone and not because he was bad, come on now, He wasn't "normal" but just because he liked to be WITH us. If we did leave him home because it was too hot he would go and put himself in his crate and we'd hear him bounding down the stairs as soon as we unlocked the door to come in.


The jingle of Husband's keys, me putting on my jewelry and grabbing my kit and most recently the click of Minnie's car seat would all get him excited and think we were going for a ride. He'd lay by the basement door and cry and cry and cry with excitement until we couldn't take it anymore and we'd let him go down and wait by the car. If he was outside and Husband even OPENED the basement door Rebound would RACE off the deck to meet him at the vehicles just inCASE Husband THOUGHT about leaving without him.


Being left home with Rebound while Husband left the house was at times PAINFUL. He loved that man more than life itself and would lay looking down the driveway out the deck door sometimes until he came back home again. At MIL's he knew how to tell time and would get in position in the bedroom window waiting for Husband to back into the driveway. A trip to the dump or the gas station ensured him a treat and EVERYONE commented on how handsome he was.


Driving to the lake would get him crying OBNOXIOUSLY in the back of the car because we swear he could smell the water. It was by FAR his favorite place to be. Swimming and on the boat made him SO happy.

He was allergic to chicken... he'd yiff everytime he ate it. Cheese was his FAVORITE treat and he HATED fruits and vegetables. In fact, last summer we were all camping at L&L's and I ALMOST got him to eat a carrot until Bets came out of the bathroom and said... IS HE EATING A VEGETABLE... and he spit it out. Literally. He rarely ate table food and barely ever begged. Unless his BFF had an ice cream cone... and it was one lick for her and one lick for him... and he wouldn't let her eat it in peace until the whole thing was gone.

He made the 26+ hour trip with us to FL in the car. It worked out perfectly because everytime I had to go potty, so did he. He came on every camping trip we took as a family and if the conditions were right on the ice (not glare) he went with Husband ice fishing. The hunting thing though... that didn't appear to be his "thing" :)Husband wiggled the deer back and forth and Rebound barked and freaked a little bit :)

He literally had to jam his big self into every nook and cranny he THOUGHT he could fit if it would get him closer to those he loved. Once he lost his leg that meant a LOT of bumped heads trying to get under kitchen tables and patio chairs. In the Dakota he would get SO irritated if I was in the truck because that meant that the seat couldn't be pushed forward so he could get his head out the window. Instead he had to jam it under my arm and on a hot day... that's a whole lot of dog slobber. :)

We were pretty convinced that he was part cat because if you gave him a sunny spot he'd sleep until the sun moved, get up and move to the next sunny spot. He hated the camera and would give L a hard time everytime he tried to snap pics of him. He would physically move his body or turn his head, pretending like he wasn't there. Too bad too because WE think he would have made a GREAT LLBean model.

He loved to be outside with Husband. When Husband would mow the lawn Rebound would lay right in his path so that every 22 inches, the width of the lawn mower, Reebs would have to get up and move. He LOVED to take walks in the woods or just sit on top of the retaining wall scanning his property to make sure all was right with the world.

Reebsie lived a life FILLED with friends and family who loved him and knew, like us, that He wasn't "normal" and we LOVED that. I went back through some of my blog and he is literally is almost every "Weekend Report" and most posts about life in general. HE was our LIFE. Struggling through infertility there was a lot of emotion put on this boy and he stepped up. He might have been spoiled but he didn't know any different and that was fine with him AND us :) We couldn't have asked for a better "first born".

He really was EVERYONE's dog. The FAMILY dog. No one EVER gave us a hard time about bringing him. Not our friends or family. It was just expected. If we were coming... so was Reebs. We are so grateful for that.

But then there were those that just had a different bond with him... and when she, at 2 years old, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was her faithful BFF....it was a done deal. She was a year old when we got him and they didn't know anything BUT each other. He loved everyone but he ADORED this girl and she him. Husband, was the ONLY one who ranked higher. And rightly so. Rebound KNEW that he was his master and alpha and did ANYTHING to make him happy. Didn't take much.

Our hearts are hurting and so sad but this boy in the words of Country Dad "did what he was supposed to do. Made everyone around him happy and you couldn't have asked for more than that."