Please share “Drakes Story”
Drake’s story is about bringing awareness to pet owners everywhere. Keep your beloved pets close and help prevent tragedy.

Drake was born May 2010 from a litter of 11. He was my hubby’s favorite friend and hunting buddy, he was always the first pick of the dogs to go out to North Dakota Pheasant hunting, he could retrieve a bird like no other! He had a beautiful black sleek coat that shined in the sun after he’d go down for his daily swims in Cross Lake. When we had children in 2012 Drake went everywhere, often laying his head on the car seat or laying in bed with his head on the pillow not too far from his new best friend, Everyn. He would have followed that boy to the ends of the earth! As Drake got older he retired from bird hunting and took up a new hobby, sunbathing. He spent the last few years with my mother and father in law. You’d often find drake no matter the season laying under the windows, soaking up the sun or running after a ball with his sister, Maggie. He’d often take walks in the fields or down the road to visit his doggie friends.
**May 4th started like any other, my father in law let drake out and he set out on his routine down Edgewater Rd NE(he’s not a wanderer, just has a routine) to go visit his friends, when drake had not returned by 930-10 that morning my mother in law and my son went looking for him, we spent hours looking, going door to door, and talking to anyone outside before I started posting his missing poster on every pet site within a 100 miles. We were hoping someone had him and they were just keeping him safe. We searched all week for him, chased possible sitings, put up flyers, we had the retrievers group and lost dogs of MN on board helping with flyers and signs. Everyone was still so hopeful after a long,hard, and emotional week.
Saturday May 9th I was sitting at home when I received a message about an older black lab with a green collar just off a driveway approach in a ditch about 9 miles from home. I jumped in my car without telling anyone and headed out there. I was trying to find the road mentioned in the message that all I saw as I passed by was a black object, my stomach dropped. I walked up to the object that was laying there, I couldn’t tell if it was him so I had to roll him over. As I rolled him over his green collar with the pattern came into view, I felt as if a piece of me had died,he had been shot.I called my father in law who I had called on my way out to give him a heads up to come out, we found him. As I waited I noticed a few things- a single 16 gauge shotgun shell casing laying in the driveway, a lone Marlboro light cigarette and a small bottle of alcohol. When my father in law got to the location he loaded him up, Drake was home. We drove him to the cabin in Askov and buried him next to his mom. This wasn’t how drakes story was suppose to end. Drake was the most mild mannered, lazy, quiet dog you’d ever meet. He still had plenty of miles to go on those paws.While, I’ve lost a lot of faith in humanity, I still believe there are good people. I’m even thinking about joining the retrievers group in Drakes memory so that another dog is never lost or killed like our boy! While we don’t quite have enough evidence for full police cooperation, we’re still working on bringing Drakes murderer(drastic,no) in. Please folks, keep your pets close! Know who your neighbors are, watch out for each other!! If anyone has info we are asking that you contact us.