Fourteen years ago, we named the dog Indiana. He passed away on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, leaving us to go on his last adventure.
Indy re-introduced us to the world of puppies
We got him a few months after our previous dogs, Madison (another Lab) and Saint (a German Shepherd), passed away. Our kids were 7 and 4, and we were excited to introduce them to the next canine generation.
Indiana – aka Indiana Bones, Indy – taught the kids how rambunctious, loving, and, and fun puppies can be. He also reminded my wife and I how much work a puppy could be.
Not that Indy was a bad puppy. Our first Lab, Madison aka Mad Dog, was a Marley-class Yellow Labrador Retriever who attacked life. Stubborn, enthusiastic, and strong as hell, she challenged us every day.
Indy was far more chill. Still enthusiastic, Indiana was much easier to work with. He loved the kids, though he always viewed our son as lower on the canine pecking order than himself (as evidenced by his joy in playfully knocking over a 4-year-old NeutronLad in the snow so he could steal his mittens). It wasn’t just NeutronLad; Indy loved to wrestle with his humans, and would seek us out to play.
As he grew older, Indy struggled with the “retriever” part of being a retriever, mostly because his eyesight was never good. Throw a ball, and half the time, he’d wonder where it went. Get him on a lake though, let him hear the splash of a toy on the water, and he became a yellow torpedo.
Indiana led an active life. While he never recovered lost artifacts like his namesake, he enjoyed going for walks, swimming on Lake Champlain during family vacations, and occasionally splashing around in the Delaware River.
At four years old, Indy got a new job: raising Seeing Eye puppies. In the early days, he played with the pups and taught them who the big dog was.
Hank, our second Seeing Eye puppy, didn’t make it into the program and returned home to us. When he came back, Hank took on the role of puppy trainer, and Indy became the grumpy old man. Oh, he’d still play with the puppies from time to time, but he was happy to let Hank do the hard work of teaching a puppy how to be a dog. Instead, Indy was content to hang out, gentle-growl when one of the puppies got out of line, and enjoy his top dog status.
In time, Indy slowed down (though as a Labrador, he never lost his enthusiasm). His vision continued to deteriorate, and he was confidently blind by the end of his life. We say “confidently blind” because he never acted like he couldn’t see and didn’t let it slow him down (even when he probably should have). On neighborhood walks, some of the Seeing Eye puppies – particularly Recon – would walk alongside him and prevent him from bouncing off unseen parked cars.
At 14, it was finally time for him to head off into the sunset. People ask if it’s hard for us to let our Seeing Eye puppies go, and it is. Every. Single. Time. But when we do send them off to the Seeing Eye, it’s knowing that they’re going to help people and to lead full lives.
For us, they’re always puppies.
Saying goodbye to Indy was so much harder.
Indy is now gone, but he’s not forgotten, and his legacy lives on. There are seven Seeing Eye puppies whose lives he impacted. Two of those puppies became Seeing Eye guide dogs and are out in the world, working with their human partners. Not many dogs (or many humans) get to have that sort of impact on the world.
Indiana did.