Photos of Luc

My family's dog Luc passed away back on July 19th.  He was a great dog, very friendly to both people and other dogs, so I thought I'd celebrate his life today by sharing some of my favourite photos of him.

Luc was born on May 8th, 2009.  He was the smallest puppy of his litter, but he caught up in size fairly quickly.  We first met him when he was about three weeks old (the above photo is from when he was four weeks old), and we chose him because his temperament was a good middle ground, he wasn't too rambunctious nor too timid (he was also the owners favourite puppy).

We took Luc home when he was eight weeks old.  He was upset when we first loaded him up in the car and started driving him away, but as you can see very happy when he got to our house (this photo was taken on his first day home).

I love this photo of Luc, it was taken after he had leaped from the steps (that are just out of frame) onto the chair.  That was surprising because he wasn't a very co-ordinated dog, and he normally wouldn't do anything like that.

When he was four months old, we took Luc to a dog-friendly beach at a nearby lake for the day.  He had never been swimming before, and it took a bit of convincing to get him in the water, but once he got in he loved it.

On his first birthday Luc met up with his littermate Jake (Luc is on the left carrying the stick, Jake is chasing after him).  Our family already knew Jake's owners from before, that is actually how we learnt about the puppies to begin with.

We took Luc camping a few times in his lifetime.  He enjoyed meeting all the other campers (and their dogs as well), and of course he loved going for walks in the trails around the campsites.  Also, he had a funny habit of stretching out in the tent and taking up all the space.

Luc also got to visit Whistler one time.  We took him all around town, and even up to the sliding center used for the 2010 Olympics.  Later on we came across a bear on the edge of a path, but Luc didn't even notice it (he was more interested in the crowd of people who were watching the bear).

When Luc was four years old he gained a new friend, my sisters dog Rigby.  Rigby is an extremely energetic dog, while Luc was a much calmer dog.  Despite their differences, they got along quite well, and Luc was always very excited when Rigby would come over for a visit.  The photo above was taken the day they first met.

Luc enjoyed camping and his trip to Whistler, but his favourite trip had to be when we took him to Tofino in 2014 (Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island).  He played in the waves, ran along the beach, and got to meet lots people and other dogs (it's a very dog friendly place).  He also tried digging for clams a few times, as you can see above.

Back at home, his regular morning routine included a walk in the off-leash dog park near our house.  That park includes trails through the forest, and Luc would often grab the biggest stick he could find and carry it around with him for the rest of the walk.

We don't always get a lot of snow where we live, but Luc would make the most of it when it did snow.  He mostly liked the snow because he thought it was a tasty treat, he loved to eat it, we'd have to keep a good eye on him to make sure he wasn't eating too much.

Luc found some mud on a walk one time, and decided to wade through it.  It's a good thing he did, because when we were cleaning him we discovered a lump that turned out to be cancerous.  We had the lump removed, and he was back to normal soon enough.

This photo was taken a few weeks after his surgery, on his first walk back in the dog park.  He was so happy to be back.  It's probably my favourite photo of him as an adult dog.

Luc always liked Christmas, partly because he would get some treats and maybe a new toy as well, but also because we would let him play with all the empty boxes.  He would toss them around, and then try to rip them up into smaller pieces.

This photo was taken in the park back at the start of June, but his daily walks continued right up until the end.  In fact, he didn't show any signs of being ill until after his morning walk on his last day (it turns out he had a tumor on his spleen, which ruptured and was internally bleeding).


Luc had a great life.  He was loved by his family, and had many friends (both people and dogs) that he saw regularly on his walks.  But as lucky as he was, we were even luckier to of had him as our pet.  You couldn't have asked for a better dog.