Sadness

Sammy the GSP has been battling a mast-cell tumor surrounding the lower joint in his back leg for several months. Steroids helped, and benadryl helped, but tonight the tumor swelled up terribly and was causing Sam awful pain in the joint. He was whimpering and crying and couldn't find a comfortable way to lie down. I couldn't stand to see him like that and decided it was time to let him go. He would have been 16 this summer.

I found Sam when he was running loose at a dressage show I was managing. The judges told me to "go catch that dog." I don't think any of them had ever chased a German shorthair before. I finally caught him and turned him over to animal control. No one claimed him, and he was going to be euthanized, so I took him home. He has been with me from Lincoln to Lubbock to Eugene. I miss him so much.

Gratuitous doggage

My dogs make me laugh all the time. I always have my iPhone handy, so now I have hundreds of pictures of them. I thought I would share a few of my favorites, so I made a favorites folder and started moving pictures in. When I got done, there were 74. Oops.

A blog post with 74 pictures would be a little unwieldy, so I'm sharing them as a slideshow instead. Stop when you get bored :) Also, keep a lookout for Ted's dog, Lucy. She's the one with the ears that stick up, and she'll be joining the pack in September. The rest are all mine: Abby (who died in January 2013; black and white part beagle), Sam (the German shorthair), Annie (the tricolor beagle), and Lola (the bassador). I see I accidentally got a picture of my pond in there as well.