This picture was taken on Christmas day, 2004.
The boxer was dying at the time of the photo from a tumor on his heart. He was the rescue I've posted about who was burned and stabbed repeatedly. My wife and I had him for almost 10 years--we figured he was about 13 at the time of this picture. Unfortunately as a boxer, the only tumor he got (boxers are prone to cancer) was the one on his heart. we contemplated going in and trying to remove the tumor, but in a 13 year old dog, that was a major, major surgery with little chance for success. You can see how full his belly looks in that picture. Its because of the fluid he was retaining due to the heart tumor. Even then he lived a happy life for months. We euthanized him on Easter Sunday 2005.
The border collie is a mix we've had for years. He's still going strong.
The brindle staffie was the male I've posted about--he was also 13 or 14 in this picture (I can't remember). He died in my arms on Easter Sunday 2005 from a ruptured tumor in his spleen. I let the dogs out in the back yard to play and ran upstairs to get something. When I came back, he was collapsed in the back yard. I was at home alone and at the time didn't have a working car--my wife had taken the car into work and the truck had a dead battery. I placed two IV catheters and ran all of the fluids I had in the house into him, but it was too little too late. We'd known he had the tumor on his spleen for almost 2 years---he was a complete asshole surgical candidate--not a good one at all, so we decided to monitor the tumor closely. He seemed to be doing great up until the day he died. Needless to say Easter Sunday 2005 sucked monkey ass.
The chocolate APBT is the one I post about on the forum. She was in "psycho bitch mode" and really wanted to get off the couch to go chew on a box of tennis balls I'd given the dogs. She's one of the best dogs I've ever owned.
The black lab was my buddy. I removed a malignant melanoma tumor the size of a bb from his front foot about 16 months before this picture was taken. The tumor was extremely malignant. We discovered the bone mets Thanksgiving of the next year when he broke his leg. I am still kicking myself over this dog. I had an opportunity to enroll him in the experimental Melanoma Vaccine study but I didn't because I was unsure of the potential negative outcomes to that vaccine. In retrospect, if I'd put him in the study, he may have lived longer.....
Now the lab, the boxer, and the staffies urns are in my living room. When I die, they will be buried with me.
The bird cage behind the dogs has my African Grey in it. "Bird" is a first class hoodlum who's favorite word is the "f" word. The bird has an opinion about just about everything and will tell you about it, in English, in Dog, or in Bird noises. She's funny as hell.
