Molli was our first yellow Lab.  Right from the start she had an “old soul”.  When you looked into her puppy eyes, you could see someone who had lived for many years.  Training her was a breeze and after three weeks of puppy school, she became Steve’s hunting buddy for years to come.  From the game farm to South Dakota to Nebraska, Molli was always ready to hop in the truck and go.  Her best place finish in a tournament with Steve was 4th place in the US Open in 1996.  In 1998, she became a “big sister” to Meg.  Her patience with the puppy was uncanny and we attribute a lot of Meg’s gentleness, loyalty and hunting capabilities to Molli.  After a couple of years of hunting both dogs, Steve made the tough decision to retire Molli.  To continue to hunt her would’ve jeopardized her legs beyond repair.  She became my buddy while Steve and Meg went off to hunt but would always sit by the door at the end of the day to wait and see what the pair brought home.  Steve would bring home a bird for Molli to prance around the yard with as if to say “see everyone, this is what I taught Meg to do.” 



Molli’s gentleness could be seen anytime.  One shining example was when she went to a remodeling job with Steve.  After an hour or two, Steve was looking for Molli and went to ask the homeowner if he’d seen her.  Much to Steve’s surprise, Molli was inside the house “playing” with the handicapped son.  He had just gotten done eating and Molli decided that he needed a good face cleaning.  She was licking his face and he was giggling like his parents had never heard him giggle before.  A bond had been formed and Molli went to that job with Steve every day.



A tough decision was made on Monday, March 8th.  That decision would change the Dahl household forever.  Molli hadn’t been feeling well for a week and after a particularly bad night, Steve and I decided to bring her into the emergency vet.  Molli’s temp was extremely high and there were signs that she had had a stroke.  Instead of putting her through many tests, we decided to put Molli to sleep.  It was the hardest thing that we’ve done but also believe that it was the right thing to do.  We miss her gentle ways around the house but know that she’s gone on to a better place and back to hunting those pheasants as she was meant to do.