10,000+AT miler has passed...

[Nightwalker]

I cant recall a single time she refused to hike, and for anyone who knows bay retrievers, thats saying a lot because believe you me they can be stuborn as mules, but then again maybe somehow thats what made her keep going. It's all she really knew, the AT.

I remember seeing her at Neel's Gap standing in Mtn. Crossings, staring out the window at the trail across the road. She really wanted to go, but she wasn't leaving without you.

[docllamacoy]

I'm sorry.

[mweinstone]

i think the bible says their are animals in heaven. your dog is like clint eastwood cool in an anni oakly way.met her dont remember where.

[Nean]

Annie the Wonder Dog. I had the pleasure of keeping her at our house when Heald was going thru the Smokies a few years back. She had 14,000m then. Great dog in my opinion. Loved to hike, loved Heald and was loved by many. Say good boy to Cooler for me Annie.

[ed bell]

Annie the Wonder Dog. I had the pleasure of keeping her at our house when Heald was going thru the Smokies a few years back. She had 14,000m then. Great dog in my opinion. Loved to hike, loved Heald and was loved by many. Say good boy to Cooler for me Annie.

You guys are making me tear up while I'm looking at my little Bittle. I'm sorry for your loss and know that Annie led a spectacular life......oh, and I'm sure Cooler as well.

[CrumbSnatcher]

heald, im sorry for your loss. if you ever need to talk, you know to call. annie would always come hang out with me and bear and chill during traildays every year.she liked bear(or at least her treats ha ha) i always enjoyed my time with heald an annie. i remember relaying some of the stone steps at walasi-yi center for winton in 2003, and annie would test the freshly laid stones for me,by walking across them. me and nean drank a couple cases of beer togeather in hot springs 2002, not sure how many cooler drank.

[CrumbSnatcher]

it might not be the appalachian trail,but i just had a great walk with my bear(dog)14 years old and going strong! livin the moment not the past. i'm blessed to have a great dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Desperado]

Very nice. Sadd . R I P Annie.....

"...The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.

"A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

"If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."

-George Graham Vest