We would occasionally babysit Boaz when his "parents" went out of town. One of my mother's favorite memories of Boaz, was watching my brother Tommy (then 8 or 9 years old) try to walk him on a leash! Boaz was always strong and he didn't pay much attention to the boy on the other end of the leash :)
When Boaz was 5 or 6 years old, our friend started having some health difficulties and she and her husband offered to give Boaz back to us. Our family had just returned from Israel and were in a temporary living situation. As much as we liked Boaz, we didn't think it was the best timing to take him back, so they decided to give him and their two female Labs to some mutual friends in VA who were also breeders. Whenever we went to visit them, we would be woken up in the morning with Boaz's signature bark :)
By late summer of 2009, we had decided to start breeding Labs again. We had gotten a different sire dog but due to different circumstances, we needed to find a new home for him. Our friends in VA offered to swap Boaz for him ... an arrangement that made us very happy! We went and picked up Boaz in September and he made himself comfortable.
Boaz must have acquired some affinity for the Chevy Caprice station wagon that brought him home because he was obsessed with getting into that car whenever he had the opportunity!
One morning my father was getting ready to leave for work and had left the driver-side window down. Boaz was on a tie-out in the front yard and the next thing we know ...
... he just wanted to go for a ride ...
... or a drive ...
Boaz had an intelligent sense of humor that was very amusing. Several months after he came to us, our chocolate female Chaya started taking his dog-loo and blanket. She was pregnant and I can't really blame her, but Boaz was very fond of his blanket and was getting frustrated, especially at nighttime when he wanted to go to sleep!
The next thing we knew ... Boaz was barking toward the back yard ... constantly! When we opened the door to see what was wrong, Chaya jumped up out of the dog-loo and came running to see us, while Boaz turned and ran straight for his blanket! It was so fun to watch and we thought it was hilarious that he came up with such a scheme.
If Boaz wanted to come inside ... or wanted his food ... or wanted attention ... etc ... he would sit at the back door and stare at the bottom of it. After awhile he would tap on it with his paw. Then he would stare at it again with a very nonchalant expression. He would wait several minutes and if we didn't open up, he would tap again. He would not look up at where we would be opening the door ... he would stare at the bottom of it with this expression like he couldn't care less!
When Boaz first came to us, we kept him in a pen or on a tie-out because he was not used to running free. On the occasions that he did get free, he would make a beeline for the road that runs beside our house. We hated this because it is steep and curvy and people drive too fast on it. So we would try to keep him contained but every so often, someone would yell "Boaz is out!" and we would run out the front door to try to head him off. He had to pass the door to get to the road ... if we were in time we could usually stop him, but if he was ahead of us there was no chance of catching up! He would always get right to the road and turn around to smile at us!
If we were not watching him or running after him, he would slow down and pace himself. If he saw us looking at him though, the race was on! Eventually, we started letting him out more often and he was less consumed with the road. He still liked to run on it but he figured out how to take care of himself and was not as determined to escape!
Boaz was the perfect family dog ...
... he loved us ...
... and we loved him.
Boaz made himself at home wherever we were. While camping last year, we came back from visiting friends at a different campsite and found that Boaz liked our pillows and sleeping bags better than the hard ground!
This was taken while we were remodeling the floor in our house ...
His obsession with vehicles and riding got him into tight spots sometimes ...
One evening we returned home from a camping trip and were unloading our van. As I was pulling things out of the back, I noticed the brake lights were flashing on and off. I couldn't figure out why, since the van was off and everyone was out. I went around to the front and found that the driver door had been left open and Boaz had crammed himself on the floorboard. In an effort to get comfortable, he kept pushing the brake pedal!
He loved to ride ... anything and everything!
His favorite place was in the front seat with his head out the window!
Boaz was quite a creature of comfort ...
... when the weather was cold, he loved to curl up on the floor by the woodstove ...
... and if he had someone to snuggle with, all the better!
He had the best personality and temperament of any Lab we've ever seen ... he didn't pick fights, even with other males who were threatening his territory!
He was friendly with different animals, like chickens ...
... our other breeding dogs ...
... and he was surrogate daddy to many puppies!
On Saturday evening, June 16th, we returned home to find that Boaz had passed away on our front porch - where he always loved to lay.
We knew that Boaz wouldn't live forever, but losing him was a heartbreaking experience and we miss him very much. We are thankful for the wonderful times that we had with him and that he had a happy life.
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