Our friend and companion, Hasty, was deployed on his final mission at 1600 on April 10, 2000. Since January, Hasty had endured seven grand mal seizures, which became increasingly debilitating with each event. Dan called me to come home on Monday, because Hasty had had another seizure. When I took him for his last walk, not a wag could be found in his golden tail; he even refused the biscuit I offered him. Life is getting bad for a Golden Retriever when he refuses a biscuit and a walk. Hasty was having no fun.
No working dog had a greater life than Hasty. In his unusually long SAR career, he was operational for nearly 12 years. Hasty was certified in water, avalanche, and wilderness airscent through Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado and an active member of the Copper Mountain Ski Patrol and Summit County Rescue Group. He responded to nearly 150 missions, with many successful finds. He was the first SAR dog in Summit County and paved the way for other ski areas and search groups to incorporate rescue dogs.
He gave us innumerable memories, but some of my favorite Hasty stories are:
**At 6 months old, Hasty rode the Sierra chairlift at Copper all by himself. He loved to go for a ride, whether it was as in a helicopter, aarplane, fire engine, snowcat, snowmobile, toboggan, motorboat, canoe, sailboard, motor-home, zodiac, chairlift, or car.
**At one year of age, Hasty was swept down an irrigation ditch while training. Before I could haul him out by his harness, he had to swim up through an underground pipe.
**On one of Hasty’s first searches,he trailed to a 2 1/2 year-old boy who had wandered five miles from the last seen point.
**Hasty helped us to rescue a little dog, whose owner had died on an ice-fall. The pup would not let any of the searchers get close until Hasty befriended him.
**Hasty found a woman in the bottom of a swimming pool, even after the cover had been placed over the pool.
**Hasty found an avalanche victim alive who was buried for 14 minutes.
**Hasty found many other people who had become lost in the wilderness, buried in avalanches, and drowned in lakes and rivers.
After all he had done for us, our gift of love and thanks was to let him go. After Hasty’s injection on April 10, it started to snow. Dan, Sandy, and I went for a Hasty Memorial Run and thought about how the snow was symbolic of our Heavenly Father’s sharing in our pain. It was appropriate that the precipitation would be snow, rather than rain, since snow was where Hasty was the most comfortable.
Hasty is survived by Sandy — his 8-year-old friend, fellow Golden Retriever and family member, Bethany — his 12-year-old human friend and family member, Rachel — his 12-year-old human friend and family member, Dan — his adult friend and family member, and Patti — his friend, family member, and SAR dog handler. Hasty was deeply loved and will be greatly missed.
Hasty taught us many lessons, but probably the most important is that God gives each one of us a purpose in life with the gifts and talents to support it. Hasty found pure joy in searching; there was nothing as important to this “canine working machine.” If each one of us could get a glimpse of why we were placed on this earth and then set our minds and hearts to accomplishing that goal, the world would be a better place.
Patti Burnett 