My 'best dog ever' quit on ME!
Lab, 1/2 black 1/2 chocolate. She was about 12. I had her out hunting pheasant in a really hard wind with the new 1yo yellow lab. She led the charge for about 10 minutes, then fell back, was around me, then gone. I realized she was gone and looked back in time to see her going over a hill 100 yards away.
Hunted the pup for another 1/2 hour, but she never came back.
Went back to the truck and she was lying under the tailgate waiting for us! Believe me, NOT normal! She was a FIERCE hunter. Extremely laid back and a wonderful house dog, but when the shotguns came out, she was bloodthirsty! Absolutely intense, best bird dog I've ever heard of, or seen, much less owned.
She was just done. It was funny how she knew it.
She lived in ease and luxury for another couple years, then got super loving and friendly for about three days, then disappeared. (She never wandered, didn't need to be leashed.) Found her remains a year later, she went off to die alone.
Best dog ever.
That is a pretty awesome story. I am sure it was tough not knowing where she went in the end but she took care of things her way. We could all be so lucky