“Sir Talladega Black Knight”
(Aka Talladega)
Talladega was full of character ever since the day we met him. At 3 weeks of age, we visited the litter of puppies to find our dog to be the noisiest. When we later brought him home and tried to crate trained him, he would howl in his cage for hours. We tried all of the suggested remedies to cease the barking but they didn’t work with our stubbornly cute Talladega. This well behaved puppy found himself out of the cage within a month, sleeping right by “mama’s” side of the bed – this was his preferred sleeping spot for the next 8 years of his life. He was known as “mama’s boy” and the “special ed. dog”, because of his demeanor. He was always with me (mama), right there to share my emotions through good and bad times. He loved his family but couldn’t not stand being without his mama!!!
Talladega, more like “Sir Barks-a-lot”, was good for keeping us informed. We ALWAYS knew when there was someone at the door, when someone had just gotten home, and when the weather was changing. He was our “greeting committee”, welcoming new and returning guest for many, many minutes of barking. He was the “town informer”, conveying all of our good and bad news to the town via “dog-to-dog relay communication”. He was also our entertainment as we worked outside, barking louder than the radio we had playing. Whatever the situation, we were guaranteed Talladega would be barking to let us know what’s going on.
In June 2009, Talladega was diagnosed with adult hip dysplasia. This came about as we were playing ball in the backyard with the other dogs when all of a sudden his hind legs went out from under him, unable to walk and in a great deal pain. While howling, he was attacked by one of his siblings as a way to end his suffering (a natural instinct of animals to put a hurting animal “out of their misery” when they are suffering, like he was). He was able to walk later that afternoon but he wasn’t the same. Since that day, we seldomly played ball in the backyard to prevent this traumatic event from ever happening again (all of the dogs missed playing ball!). He slowly declined over the next year, being diagnosed with an additional problem: Lymphedema (common in black labs). During his final days, he lost the muscle in his bad leg, both of his hind legs were very swollen (solid as a rock), and he was in a great deal of pain. He still had some spunk in him but he was SO tired from the constant pain in his back legs that we decided to put him down – he visually told us it was time to go “night, night”.
Talladega will be greatly missed by all that knew him!! He leaves behind his mama (his love) & papa, Brother Zach, and his Lab canine siblings: brother Daytona (10), brother Bristol (7), and sister Madison (3). The nicknames we gave him over the years were: Tally, Tally-wack-a-noodle, Tallyburger, Burger-Miester, and Burger/Burg.
“You are out of pain and playing with the Lord in heaven. Thanks for blessing our hearts with your loving and loyal compassion for a little over 8 years.”