Message: How our family dogs connect me to my late grandfather

Message, noun: A verbal, written, or recorded communication

sent to or left for a recipient who cannot be contacted directly.

I just dropped off our dog Hank at the groomer’s for a bath and a nail trim. This is our second visit to a new place in town and they did a great job for us last time. They even dressed him up in a little cowboy hat when he was done and took a hilarious photo. Yeehaw!

Hank the dog

Hank is a lab/hound mix who we rescued as a puppy in March 2021. He’s a bit high-strung and likes to chew on everything, but he’s also a champion snuggler and a great playmate for our kids.

We adopted Hank just about a year after we had to say goodbye to our previous dog, a well-behaved, mild-mannered black lab named Memphis. He had been training to become a service dog, but wasn’t able to complete the training, so he became adoptable as a “career change dog.” He was amazing and we miss him.

I have loved animals all of my life, but had always been drawn more to cats. We had a very feisty and ornery cat named Misty growing up, but when my husband and I got married, we decided to become dog owners. Never did I imagine, though, how much our dog ownership has been influenced by my beloved grandfather. I know it’s strange to say that we’ve received messages from the great beyond, but it’s hard to ignore some through lines with our family dogs.

Hank's puppy pic

First, and most obviously, my grandfather’s name was Hank. When we adopted our puppy Hank, that was the name he had been given by his foster family. He was part of a litter named after country music singers, which included siblings Willie, Waylon, and Dolly. I had searched for dogs online for a while and Hank’s photo immediately caught my eye—and when I saw his name, I knew he was meant for us. He was going to be our Hank.

For Memphis, we had filled out a simple application saying that we were interested in a dog, any dog, and they would contact us when they felt they had a good fit for our family. The significance was not lost on me when I received a call saying they had a black lab.

Memphis was well loved by our family

My Grandpa Hank loved to go pheasant hunting in South Dakota in the 1970s. As such, he had several well-trained hunting dogs, mainly black labs, who accompanied him on those trips. One dog in particular, a gentle female named Princess, became legendary in my hometown and is still talked about some 40 years after the dog died.

When I first posted photos of Memphis, several of my relatives reached out reminding me about Princess and how fortunate it was that we now had our own black lab—and how proud my grandpa would have been.

“Will he be as well-trained as Princess??” one cousin asked.

My grandfather had Princess before I was born and spent a lot of time and energy training the dog. They were a pair, one rarely seen without the other. As I have often said, if you knew my grandfather in the 1970s, you definitely knew Princess.

My Grandpa Hank training Princess in the '70s

In fact, I had posted something very similar to that on my Facebook page a few years ago and some of my relatives commented with vivid memories of Princess. (Side note: As I was writing this blog, I tried to figure out how to go back and find that post. Amazingly, it popped up in my Facebook Memories! I had posted it on this very day in 2020 and it literally dropped into my lap. Regardless of your beliefs on messages from the afterlife, it was hard to ignore that one.)

One of the favorite stories that is continually told about Princess is how she used to visit the family-owned gas station at the bottom of the hill from my grandparents’ house. The owner would give Princess an ice cream bar from the cooler and she would bring it home without a tear in the wrapper. Then, and only then, did she get to enjoy it as a treat.

But there were other stories folks remembered, too.

One of my relatives said they “witnessed a hot dog on Princess’ nose, which she would not eat until Hank counted and said a certain number.”

“She would also go down the basement steps and get her food everyday when Uncle Hank told her to,” another recalled.

Another said simply, “A legendary dog to be sure.”

Me and Princess, October 1980

My life overlapped only slightly with Princess. When I came along in 1980, Princess was already very old, but I was told that she was very gentle with me. However, she began to develop health problems and my grandfather had to make the difficult decision to end her suffering.

He had to ask his sister, my great-aunt, to take her in. He just couldn’t do it. My mom said she cried for three days. Princess left a big void behind.

So, when a beautiful black lab and later a crazy puppy named Hank came our way, I couldn’t ignore the coincidences. And not only have these dogs brought extra love into our family, they have also brought a little bit of my beloved Grandpa Hank to me each day. For that, I will be forever grateful.