Ten Years with Our Daisy

On August 18, 2002 we brought our first dog home.  She was about a year old at the time. She came to us from a humane society, and she's proof that you can get a beautiful, well tempered dog from the shelters. Daisy is 11 years old now, and she still chases the younger dog around the house.  We celebrate her addition to the family every year on August 18th. 
 

I took both of the dogs to Three Dog Bakery, where the clerk was nice enough to let them taste some some treat before we bought them. They also both got a free "pupcake" - a cupcake for doggies and a little present.

What's in the bag?

Doggie Cardinal's jerseys.  The clerk let me try these on the dogs before I bought them. Which was great, because I would have bought the wrong size for Lily if I'd had to guess on the size. 

Daisy has always been a fun dog. She's given us a few scares - seizures and mysterious blood work. Last year we had diagnostic test after test done on her. Early this year, her vet called late one night with lab results following yet another test. Much was the same - liver enzymes still high, except for one thing. Newly found anemia. My first thought was cancer, particularly something like leukemia that originates in the bone marrow. I asked the vet if there was any chance that it was a solid tumor that could be surgically removed. She said it was unlikely. At that point, we decided that we were not going to put her thru anymore tests. We aren't going to give her chemo. Chemotherapy is rough on your body - killing healthy cells along with unhealthy cells. She doesn't act sick. She acts like an 11 year old dog with arthritis. She can still keep up with me and Lily for a 2 mile walk when it's not too hot.

She's adjusted well to having Samuel around. In fact, she's adjusted to him better that she adjusted to Lily when we first brought her home. I was sitting in the floor playing with Samuel a few days ago, and she was interested in what we were doing. I called her over and laid her down in between me and Samuel and she let him pet her belly.