While grieving our beloved Chocolate Labrador, Louis, we started to think of all the funny things he did over the years.  

  • As a puppy, once he figured out the cat doors, he potty trained himself.  He fumbled his way onto the sunroom, but I thought he escaped from the courtyard and then found him looking at me thru the sliding glass door wagging his tail. 
  • You knew Louis did something bad if he didn’t greet you at the door, wagging his tail. 
  • The counter-bandit stole loaves of bread, even off the top of the 6′ armoire.
  • He stole a glass jar of organic peanut butter, took out to the back yard to lick clean. Then he broke the glass jar when he dropped it on on the brick floor coming back in. 
  • We used to have a maid service.  He thought they were paid to entertain him. He stood on our bed barking at them, stole all their towels & left them all over the yard. 
  • When we left our clothes laying around, Lou would drag everything out the dog door into the backyard. Once he even managed to get a pair of boxers on the fence. Our Australian neighbor thought it was a flag. 
  • During a walk in Seashore State Park, he ran down the dock until he ran out of dock & fell into the brackish water.  
  • He liked to help himself to the box of Milk-bones in the garage like it was a buffet. He recently came out of the garage with 3 large Milkbones sticking out of his mouth.
  • He could always find a way to get into the cat food container, even in a closet. 
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Louis was special in so many other ways:

  • When Brian Jr. rode his unicycle, he liked to run alongside nipping at the wheel. 
  • He enjoyed playing chicken with the riding mower. He knew when the blades went up & it was play time. 
  • When he played with his cousin Chip (5 lbs), Chip ended up wet like a sponge. 
  • He used to let his nieces ride him like a horse when they were little. 
  • He always loved Grandma Joyce’s visits because she had a treat in every pocket.
  • He lived with many different cats over the years.  He loved his cats but not other people’s.  He had a special tattletale bark when he saw one of his cats across the street. He had a different relationship with each cat, especially Murphy.
  • He had a specific bark for a squirrel in the yard, a dog being walked in front of his house, a stranger approaching the house, or a friend/relative coming by.
  • When he would get off his twin bed or a couch, he did a walk forward/drag the legs stretch move (see picture). 
  • He could bring grown men to their knees with a hearty wag of his tail to a delicate spot.  Twice, he wagged his tail so heartily, he sprained it. 
  • He always looked forward to a trip to the vet, which meant more people touching him. His favorite place though was Holly Ridge. He had his best times cavorting around at summer camp, making friends, swimming, and would be exhausted when he arrived home.
  • He played a mean game of keep away. He would slightly turn his head 1/4″ just so you couldn’t get what was in his mouth.  The best was taking Matt’s expensive sunglasses, making Matt chase him thru the front bushes to get them back. 
  • We had chicken wire fence on one side of our yard. He found a secret passage way through it, and was using our neighbor’s yard as his getaway. We didn’t believe it until we saw him slip through ourselves.
  • He had many nicknames: Loubird, Velvet Ears, Loocifer, Loulabelle, Chocolate Thunder, Mr. WagWell.
  • He was a lazy Lab that would stop bringing the ball back to you after about the third throw.  He’d rather meander around the yard & sniff things.
  • Our cats had a Frank the Hotdog catnip toy. Louis always used to take his boxer shorts off (see the picture, ants in his pants). We’d find naked Frank somewhere in the house with his little 1″ boxers hanging out of Lou’s mouth. 

Louis loved everyone and he had a big fan club himself. We miss him every day and know we’ll never have another Lou-Dog. We were lucky to enjoy 13 1/2 years with him.  His cats even miss him.  

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