Rollie the Retriever

Remembering Rollie makes me smile and get teary eyed all at the same time. Rollie was one of my four legged friends that is no longer with us. He had a short life with us but it was a very loved and memorable one! Dogs truly are mans best friend! Rollie Pollie Pants was my husbands right hand man and became one of my besties as well!
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Rollie was a block head 120lb yellow Labrador Retriever that loved to hunt! Saying he loved to hunt is an understatement. He was one of those dogs that was just born to do it and already knew what was going on with just a minuet amount of training. He was actually kind of a rescue dog. A family member had him and couldn’t handle his energy so my husband took him and decided to start training him to be a duck dog. We got Rollie when he was over a year old. He was a real fast learner and eager to please us! I never saw a dog catch on so fast with training like Rollie did! He had a great attention span and it was as if he knew what it was all for……. For retrieving quackers! Man did that dog love to duck hunt, and he was great at it!Rollie was not just a duck dog, he also would hunt for dove and quail with us.
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It was opening weekend of quail hunting and I decided to take Rollie with us on a hunt for Bobwhites at Grandmas. It was just my father and I on this trip, my husband was offshore fishing. It was an extremely humid, hot sticky day and we were hunting a grain field on my Grandmothers farm in South Texas. This particular year the quail were very abundant and seemed to be everywhere you went on the farm. It really was an epic year of quail hunting! I have yet to witness another time like that. The years following were hurting for water and the farm went through an ugly drought that put a dent in the quail population. So the quail hunting was awesome and Rollie, Dad and I were having a blast. When hunting quail you only should shoot a few birds out of the covey. Then you move one to a new field and different covey of birds. My dad was doing just that and had gone to a different field leaving me alone with Rollie. I ended up scaring up a covey and shot two birds. Rollie eagerly retrieved the first and then took off after the second bird down. He took off into thick mesquite brush and I lost sight of him.
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Rollie had let his nose get the best of him and hadn’t come back…..I had been calling for him to the point of me almost loosing my voice. I started to worry! Rollie didn’t listen to me like he did my father and husband. It was hot and he had been gone for about twenty minutes. Finally he came back with the bird in his mouth. He dropped the bird at my feet and collapsed! It was horrifying…..he began to convulse and appeared to be having a seizer! He had become so overheated chasing the birds he had a heat stroke! I was all alone and on foot…..I had no choice or time to do anything but drag Rollie to the farm house to try and bring his temperature down. It was very traumatic, I thought I was going to loose him!
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The heat stroke caused Rollie’s kidneys to shut down, and he went into shock. It is called DIC ( Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation ) and it is a very ugly sad thing to have happen to an animal. We ended up getting him to emergency animal hospital just in time. Rollie had two blood transfusions and was in the hospital for two weeks. He recovered with only kidney damage and was now a retired hunting dog. His hunting days were going to have to be in the past. Rollie needed a job, he couldn’t just sit around the house. We discussed his issues and his need to please and decided he would be the perfect therapy dog. So Rollie was enrolled in doggy school and was on his way to help people in hospitals feel better. He was our little miracle dog and he was going to be a great therapist! Rollie unfortunately only made it through three therapy classes before he went to doggy heaven. We had a great nine months with him after he was saved from the heat stroke. He was all heart, a very unique boy that loved doing things for people.
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Rollie passed away at the age of four, and I am thankful to have had him in my life even though it was only for a few years! The hardest part of having pets is knowing they don’t live as long as humans do! I have had several dogs and cats pass and it is always a hard thing. Telling you about Rollie is how he lives on to me! All dogs go to heaven! Rollie Pants is no doubt in doggy heaven chasing ducks, swimming in ponds, and peeing on tires! We love and miss you Rollie! I actually have Rollie’s mom now, her name is Daisy Momma, and she is 12 years old and still doing well! Rollie had Daisy’s sweet temperament and I see a lot of Rollie in her demeanor! I am a true dog lover and just wanted to share the story of Mr. Rollie Pollie Pants, he was a great dog and even better friend!