By 2005, we had three years of steady hurricane preparation training and could prepare our home in a couple of hours. The good thing from the prior years of hurricane prep was we had gotten rid of a lot the junk we no longer or ever needed. For those of you who don't live in a hurricane zone, everything that can't be tied down must be brought inside. For us that means the canoe, bikes, grill, plants, driveway tarps, etc., has to be brought in. Now some say our house is small somewhere around 725 sq. ft., but it fits two adults and a large dog nicely. Everything has a place and everything is in its place; except during a hurricane.
Drake was starting to settle in but he still spent most of his time hanging near the front door. He rarely wagged his tail and did much care to be hugged or petted either. It almost seemed as though he was afraid to make friends with us. Can't say I blamed him after all he had been through in the last seven weeks. With all the other crazy things that had happened to him, suddenly we are rearranging the furniture and bringing the outside world in; which to him it probably seemed like he was now living in a box that was getting smaller and smaller. You have to wonder if he was questioning to himself whether we were nuts or not.
Once we have everything brought inside and the shutters up on the widows, I like to refer to our house as the bunker. It is dark, you can't see outside and you try not to trip over everything. For Drake his safety spot remained by the door. Finally we gave in and moved his bed by the door.
Max had been terrified of thunder or any loud noise. On the 4th of July and New Year's Eve we always had to drug him. During bad thunder storms he made his best effort to become a lap dog. Not an easy feat for a 110 pound dog. Having no idea what Drake's reaction was going to be to the storm that was approaching fast, we hoped for the best. For the next several hours as we listened to the banging, clanking and wind, Drake slept through it. What a relief he did have the fear that Max did.
Once the storm was over we discovered we no longer had a fence. I mean every inch of the fence was gone. The biggest problem with adopting a pet is you don't know what kind place and/or training they previously had. When Drake first arrived, he acted as though he never had the freedom of a yard and was just starting to enjoy ours. He never used the our yard to relieve himself, only on walks. Suddenly, now when he's outside he's on the leash always until we create some kind of fence for him. Another change in his short life; life on the chain gang. I think it was more like back to life on the chain gang.
We were lucky in that we were able to find large portions of our fence and quickly pieced something back together. Drake had his yard and freedom back. Within the few weeks the outside stuff had been moved out and life was returning to normal.
Better yet, Drake was starting to spend less time at the front door and we moved his bed away from the door.
We have heard different stories as to why his previously owners surrendered him. Their house was too small, they were moving to a senior community that didn’t allow large dogs, they didn’t expect a Labrador to get this big, etc., etc. It doesn’t matter; his life had been turned upside down. I often wonder what he must having been thinking. But more importantly, I wonder how scared he must have been.
After the parking lot transfer, Drake was taken to a foster family in Sarasota, Florida for a six (6) week evaluation. Another home another family to bond with. With his personality, he fit into this family very well. They had a couple of smaller dogs that he got to play with and things weren’t so bad and as long as they stayed away from him when he was eating. Again, he was becoming one happy camper.
Just as he was settling in, a man showed up one day, looks him over, plays with him for a while and says, “Okay I’ll take him.” Once again everything he owns is loaded into a vehicle and he gets go on a long car ride.
When they pull into the driveway that Friday night Drake seemed incredibly happy, but not sure of what was going on. We moved all of his stuff into the house, showed him were his bed and toys were in our living room and he immediately took up residency by our front door.
Drake’s life begins with his new and permanent family.
In March of 2003 just before he turned 13, our beloved “Big Max” became very ill. One month later over the Easter weekend it became apparent that he wasn’t going make it and with much pain and love we say good-bye to him.
As Max got older and we knew our time with him was running out, we made the decision that for our next dog we would adopt one from either the local Human Society or Labrador Rescue. We are lab people, others breeds are great, but for us there’s nothing like a lab.
Once the shock wore off of putting Max down, we started searching the rescue web sites, registered with the local Human Society and told friends that our house had been empty long enough. The search proved to be much more than we expected. But then again, I’m not sure we really were ready. As cute and lovable as all of the adoptees were, no one stuck out. Then one October day, “Angel” showed up on the Labrador Rescue web site.
We were ready and he had everything we were looking for. He was a “Field Style” lab and weighed close to a 100–pounds. Yes, we like the big boys. One thing had to go – the name. No self respecting 100–pound dog is called “Angel”.
We filled out the application, had our inspection by Labrador Rescue and were approved. At this point we were finally able to speak to the foster family about Angel. They said that Angel was very sweet, got along with other dogs well and was a pleasure to have.
Angel’s foster family lived in Sarasota, Florida and we are in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Darrell (let me introduce him, he is my partner and the “we and Dad” in our story) decided that he would drive over by himself to check Angel out. Once he met him if he didn’t like him he wasn’t going to bring him home. If I was along he knew there wouldn’t be a “didn’t like” possibility. So on Friday, October 20, 2005, Darrell headed over to Sarasota to pick-up our new boy “Gus”. As I said the name Angel had to go.
Late that night Darrell called to say he was heading home with our new boy and I realized I finally had to say good-bye to Max. After a real good cry I did. Shortly thereafter, Darrell and “Drake” pulled into the driveway. Somewhere in the middle of Alligator Alley, Darrell decided he was a Drake more than a Gus.
