“Buck – go get me a beer!”

And he did. With that simple action, Buck, my six-year-old black Labrador Retriever won a spot in my man's heart.

Abandoned Bradian Townsite photo taken in 1980

Lawrie and I, and his then eleven-year-old son John, were spending a three-day weekend near Bralorne, the remote and almost-abandoned gold mining town where I was born. 

We parked our camper truck under the pine trees at our original family cabin situated on the shores of the glacier-fed Big Gunn Lake. Lawrie wanted a cold beer so he decided that he should toss the entire case of beer out into the lake to cool it down.

A half an hour later when Lawrie tried to retrieve a cold beer he discovered his mistake. Freezing cold water. Too damn cold - unless you happened to be a young kid who grew up swimming in that lake.

Our original family cabin on Big Gunn Lake

He looked calculatingly at my dog, Buck, who was sitting beside us, tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth. Lawrie took a small pebble and tossed it into the water towards the case of beer. “Buck – go get me a beer!” he commanded. Buck, always eager for a swim jumped in the water and swam to where the pebble had disturbed the surface of the lake. He paddled around in confusion, then to our surprise dove down, leaving just the tip of his tail poking above the lake's surface.

A minute or two later he popped to the surface with a beer in his mouth!  Wow, Buck the Wonder Dog! Clutching the beer in his teeth he swam to shore where he was greeted with hugs and love and praise. “Good dog, good dog!” “Now, go get Lynda a beer,” Lawrie said, tossing another pebble into the lake. 

Buck the Wonder Dog - retrieving a beer from the lake

Off he swam, no confusion this time, diving down and retrieving a second beer. His arrival on shore was greeted with more hugs and praise.

For the balance of the weekend, whenever we wanted an icy cold beer we simply pointed at the lake and said, “Buck, go get me a beer!” 


And he did, every time – until three days later when our short vacation was over.