Even though it has been two years since Mollie crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we still refer to the calendar we send out each year as . And we’ve incorporated Mollie into the calendar once again this year; still as a tribute to her for the hundreds of photos she sat for to promote our business over the years.

My husband (Rick) was in Alaska when one of the litters of the grandfather that was our very first Labrador Retriever became available in August of 2002. My husband had chosen our previous four Labs – usually by throwing a feather out to see which pup in the litter would go after it, so if I was going to choose a puppy, I at least knew to do that. My friends Alan and Gail (who owned the sire of the litter) called and said that I had the number two pick, right behind them. I fell in love with one particular pup the minute I saw her. I threw the feather into the grass, and she along with another pup ran after it. (Score!) Then the owners of the litter told us that they had brought the pups to Portland from Idaho, and on one of their stops there was a stream. The mother of the litter crossed the stream and one of her babies followed her – swam right across the stream after her mom. And that was the puppy I had picked. I was so afraid Alan was going to choose her as his #1 pick, but as fate would have it, he picked his Katie. That little female I was crazy about would indeed be mine! On the way home, Gail asked me what her name was, and I said, “Her name is Mollie.” There was no question – she was Mollie. And because all of our dogs have been named after rivers, I added, “Molalla River Mollie. That’s her name.”