Rest in Peace, Brea

Brea has gone to wherever good dogs go when they die. She was eleven years old, and we had nine years together. In March she was diagnosed with tumors in her spleen and abdomen. She was doing pretty well until this week, when she appeared to be becoming uncomfortable, especially when going up and down stairs, and her belly was noticeable distended. So last night I made the difficult decision that it was time to say goodbye. Sweet Brea.

Faye's Big Day

 Faye was spayed Friday, so no more worries about a bunch of little Fayes running around.

Friday night she looked kind confused and disoriented, at times pacing a lot, and other times just standing and staring at me with wide eyes. She didn't seem to be in too much pain.

Yesterday, Saturday, she seemed more her normal self, wanting to go outside and run and play, but it's too soon for that - the doctor said to keep her quiet for a few days and keep her incision clean and dry.

Today her incision seemed to be starting to bother her. I don't know if it's itching or hurting, or both, but she started licking it more, so we went to Petsmart and got her a lampshade collar. She is receiving medicine for pain and Trazodone to help keep her calm. We also went to the Panera drive through for coffee and the nice lady there gave her a piece of bacon! Good times.

Brea and Baseball

 Brea's interest in baseball extends only to catching the ball and chewing the cover off.

Faye's Family

 Some of Faye's relatives, from left to right: Sunny (brother), Willie (father), Jersey (sister), and Brinks (uncle). Photo courtesy Tasha W., owner of Sunny.

Turtles

The past few weeks I've encountered several turtles on my property.

Faye's first turtle.

This one appeared to be trying to descend the stairs when I found him...

... but turned around when I went to the other side. I ended up moving him away from the edge.

Faye's Family

Tasha, my coworker, whose parents own Faye's parents, sent me this composite of Faye and five of her six brothers and sisters. Top left is Sunny, a brother owned by Tasha. Bottom left is Frank, another brother owned by Tony, a former coworker. Faye is middle right. No ID on the other ones yet.

At her last checkup a few days ago Faye weighed 30 pounds. Tasha and Tony report that their boy dogs are about 70 pounds now. Big boys. Faye is little but she's active and healthy, no complaints from the doctor.

Honesty

One thing I like about dogs is that they're very clear about what they want, if I'm perceptive enough to recognize it. Sometimes there's no doubt...

Can you tell that Faye and Siri want to go into the park?

The only reason we didn't go into the park was because the field was a muddy mess after an all night rain.

Here are a few pictures showing how Faye compares to Siri in size. Siri weighs about 110 lbs. I think Faye weighs about 45 or 50 lbs. With the current stay at home situation I haven't been able to take her to the vet to check her weight. I tried standing on my home scale while holding her, but she doesn't like to be held like that and squirms a lot.

Currently, Faye eats a little more than twice as much (by volume) than the older dogs. She's still eating large breed puppy chow. On my days off I try to give her an extra meal. She still acts like she's starving. This week she is 26 weeks old.

Brea was relaxing on my bed at this time and didn't want to go outside.