Brian and I always wanted a lab.  We always wanted a female yellow lab.  But when you're 3 months pregnant just moved into a new house, and you want a puppy when you can still see your feet...you compromise.  Okay, a yellow male......nope!   A black female ....was as close as we got.  We didn't get to pick Lieber, she was chosen for us.  We called breeder upon breeder till we could find one with available puppies for our time frame.  Not quite the way you should pick a breeder, we know that now. 

 But we were lucky we got Lieber.

My dad had a dog a long time ago named Lieber.  I just loved the name, he said it meant sweetheart in German.  Someone once told me it meant onion in German, I really hoped they were wrong!  I recently asked a girlfriend of mine in Germany and she said that "yes" it could be translated that way, my sweetheart, my darling....on the order of that.  Thank God!

We brought her home......and like new parents we had rules!

Didn't let her go on furniture......till I came home from shopping one day and saw her and Brian cuddled on the couch together. 

Didn't let her sleep with us...till that constant puppy barking keeps you up all night. 

Didn't give her table food...we made it years sticking to this one....till I went to my sisters house and saw her 14 year old Rhodesian Ridgebacks eating turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy!  

Lieber was spoiled.  Very spoiled.    She had birthday cakes for her birthday. She would come to know the Happy Birthday song and bark whenever we sang it, no matter whose birthday it was, she knew she got cake! 

She went everywhere in the car with me. She knew at the drive thru at Dairy Queen she too would get some plain vanilla in a cup. She knew when we got off the toll road at 127th and Cicero we were going to Grandma Moore's house. She knew if I collected her hard bone off the floor we were going out and she was staying home and would find her place on the corner of the couch.....she knew our habits before we even realized them. 

Like most labs she loved the water, when she was a pup she would go in the shower with us.  We could not keep her out of the kids kiddie pools in the summer or puddles when going for a walk. If kids were over swimming they would always ask us to keep Lieber out of the pool...we always said "no". :-) 

We dressed for her Halloween.  We bought her gifts at Christmas and she would open them herself.  She even had her own stocking hung on the fireplace.  She was our first baby...she was Ian & Collin's sister.  Lieber was always so good with them...or any kids.  She just loved being around people.

When she was 7 we had the chance to get a 1 year old yellow lab named Montana.  Lieber and him were inseparable right away.  Montana would only go outside if Lieber was there,  and Lieber spent her time outside trying to dodge Montana.  Since Lieber followed me into the bathroom, I thought it was "payback" that Montana wouldn't let her go alone either.

Lieber was a huge part of our family.  I think if you had the chance to meet her you know  what just a loss this is. If you never met Lieber I hope you feel like you have.   We loved her the best we could...knowing she loved us ten times more than that.