May 8, 2006

• Very Sad News

   

  
  

         Beloved canine companion:

  
  

  

  
  

  Well… the bad news I received last week has now been shared with the girls, so I can now share it with all of you. Last Wednesday (see…. BAD things happen on Wednesday) my mom called. My mom has been fostering our other dog Velvet. She called to tell me that they had to put Velvet down. Velvet had developed a cancer on her front leg back in 2004, which was surgically removed, this was the month before moving here. The vet told us it would probably come back and that she probably wouldn’t survive another surgery. He also recommended that she not make the trip to HI with the quarantine and kennels and all. My folks graciously agreed to keep her, and have provided a wonderful home for her. They moved from AZ to NM later that summer, and Velvet go a huge yard to explore, rabbits and deer to chase and snow to play in during the winter.

  
  

  

  
  

  She began falling a lot, and the tumor came back. The past six months she has steadily declined. Eventually she bit through the tumor and into her leg, but she had gotten to the point where she wouldn’t let anyone touch her, so they couldn’t even clean it. Mom realized it was time. The vet agreed and stated that it was past time. She was in pain, blind, couldn’t hardly walk, and losing her sense of smell. So on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 she moved on from this world. We will miss her terribly, but we are so glad that she is no longer in pain.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   Velvet and Dakota

  
  

  Picture 1: Ages 20 months and almost a year Picture 2: Ages 12 and 11+

  
  

  
  

  Velvet was a half Australian Shepherd / half Lab mix. She was a Medium sized dog weighing about 40 lbs. She had long black hair and chocolate brown eyes. We first met Velvet when Silver_Fangz was just about 9 months old. We went to Texas to attend the Family Christmas and decided to hook up with my brother (half) and his wife. We didn’t want to visit them empty handed, so we stopped at the local Walmart to pick up a poinsettia to take as gift. There in front of the Wally world was a box full of the cutest puppies ever. We oohhed and ahhed over them and claimed we didn’t need a puppy as we just had a baby!! On the way out, we couldn’t resist stopping to visit them one last time. We love black animals (we had an all black cat named Harley, now we have an all black dog named Rasha) and there was a puppy that was all black, the rest were brown/black mixtures. We also love female animals as we find them to be more nurturing and friendly. What do you know, they had one female and guess which one it was?? The little black ball of fur. We left Walmart with a beautiful poinsettia and the cutest little puppy to add to our family. We headed home after lunch and it was so cute at rest stops when we stopped to walk the dog to watch this little toddler walk jerkily around followed closely by a puppy who was just as clumsy and awkward. It was hard to tell who was having a more difficult time! It was the beginning of a great love affair, not only between SF and Velvet, but 2 years later when Squirt joined the crew she was just as in love. Velvet was a great dog, well-behaved and sweet as can be. She had many trials in her life. She was terrified of thunder and when you live in AZ that fairly frequent in the summer. One summer we were out and an unexpected storm came up suddenly. We rushed home to let Velvet in, but we were too late, she had jumped our fence and wandered down a major road in her panic. She was hit by a car, we found her wandering that same road minutes later. She had to have major reconstructive surgery on her hind leg and was in the Animal hospital for almost a month. Another time while we were on vacation, she escaped (during a storm) from my parents house, got lost and ended up eventually in the pound scheduled for destruction when my folks tracked her down. (Don’t ask me what happened to her tags and collar, we still haven’t figured that out).

  
  

  Mostly I remember her loving eyes, gentle presence and soft fur. She was a great dog and we will miss her terribly.

  
  

  Goodbye Velvet. Good girl.  

  
  

  

  • 8:04 pm
  • 8 Comments