Hershey Bear Snyder

We lost a very loved member of the Snyder family last evening. After a painful 9-month fight with bone cancer and an increasingly growing lump on her left arm, we decided to put our 9 year-old Chocolate Lab, Hershey, to sleep. Hershey was the best dog ever. Plain and simple. I know everyone says that about their own pet. But hands down, she was truly the best dog ever. She was the cutest puppy I’ve ever seen. And as an adult, she was beautiful, with the shiniest, softest, smoothest, dark, brown coat I’ve ever seen. Her beautiful coat was probably from the Pantene shampoos that she regularly received growing up. She was smart and loyal. From the time that Hershey was a puppy, she never needed to be on a leash. I tend to think it wasn’t only that she was so loyal and smart, but because she instantly bonded with us and was afraid to get separated from us. Hershey had the “best” temperament. She was friendly with other dogs, yet, she was a real people “person” wagging her extremely strong tail incessantly and hitting everything in sight. And with kids, she saw her perfect opportunity to get “free” kisses. So much so, we would always have to shoo her away. Hershey was not a yappy barking dog. But, on occasion, she’d let some go if she felt she needed to protect us. Talk about a great swimmer! I guess when its in your genes its that easy… But her true joy was playing ball, especially, playing with tennis balls. Funny thing was that she was very poor at actually catching the ball in the air. No matter, once that ball hit the ground nothing and I mean nothing, not bushes, trees, or people were going to keep her from getting that tennis ball. And I can’t forget about “Tigger”. From the time Hershey was a puppy and we bought her a stuffed animal Winnie the Poo, Tigger, she loved Tigger. We probably went though 3-4 Tiggers through the years. And she always could tell and Tigger from any other stuffed animal. I don’t know what it was, but she knew the difference. Hershey was our first baby. You could say that she was the classic trainer baby, but really she was so much more. She was a member of the family and a best friend. Always there, always ready to play, always available to listen, always wagging her tail, always loving us unconditionally.

We will always love you Hershey!