We have had some interesting dogs and medical problems, it's hard to write them all. Herman's Great Dane, Freya, lived to be 13. What a love...my daughter learned to love our Danes through her. While studying to become a pharmacist she studied together on a bed that Freya knew not to get onto......I have photos to prove that my daughter changed that!

Her little Dachshund, Asa , came to live with us during her college years and lived to be 11 years old.

My Dachshund, Willie, lived to be 15 even with epilepsy and blind with cataracts. We had to put him down with our 13 year old German Shepherd who developed hip dysplasia late in life.

Freya almost died from grief and that is when we got our Dane, Sadie. She mothered 2 litters and loved us for her 11 1/2 years. We know where all but 2 of the puppies are and we kept one puppy from each litter.

 

 

Moose lived with Wobbler's diagnosed at 3 and had 3 vertebra fused at WSU and also lived through surgery for 2 bouts of torsion and still lived to age 9. Letting him go was really hard, but letting him live forever by donating him to WSU neurology department for study was a good decision.

 

Bandit, another Dane, was diagnosed with cancer in July of 2005 and after removal of a fast growing tumor, he is still with us at age 9 1/2.

 

 

 

 

Our first Dachshund in years, Julee, came to us and wasn't with us long. God called her home at age 2 and she died in my arms.

Another Dane, Gwynn, grew up with Julee and missed her as much as we did. They were sisters as much as any dogs could be.

 

 

The empty gaping hole of losing Julee was filled with the love of another Dachshund named Annie who is our little hunter. For now, we have a little girl Dachshund needing trained. Her name is Sasha and we hope to be able to keep her forever, but for now, she is still the breeders. She will get us through losing Bandit in the next few years to his cancer.

 

How do you write about owning and losing a dog, or two, or three? You get another little friend and love them for every minute you own them. You train them to be good citizens and share them with people who are not able to own a pet where they live. And they love you every day, warts and all.

 

Charlene and Herman Shuping