We got our first dog when we first moved out to the country, 24 years ago. It was a golden retriever. Since that time, we have had several other goldens. Aure was our last.

Aure was the spunkiest of the goldens we had. She approached everything with enthusiasm. She would sometimes leap into the air and catch birds flying by. She would sense things under ground, dig them up and catch them, then she would proudly parade about with her catch in her mouth, asking for our approval. She was better at catching moles than any mole trap you could buy at the hardware store.

She was the fastest of our dogs. The kids used to lock Aure in the back porch, go up to the woods on the bluff and hide, then have us let her out, and she would run down to the bluff and track each one of them down. Aure always won at hide and go seek.

Despite her enthusiasm and keen hunting ability, Aure was a pacifist by nature. Though the other dogs would sometimes get into fights, Aure could never be provoked into a fight.

Like all the other goldens, she was a faithful companion. She loved each member of our family with a possessive and protective affection. As she grew older, she would have difficulty walking, and going long distances would tire her. But she would still want to go on walks with us. We finally had to pen her up before we went on long walks so she wouldn’t follow along and tire herself out. But if someone let her out of the pen before we got back, we would often meet her joyfully but painfully coming down the road toward us as we returned.

Aure was dying of cancer. We put her down today. She was thirteen years old. We thank the Lord for Aure, and we will sincerely miss her.

Harvey