George
On July 6th at the age of 14 and a half years our smart, sweet, handsome boy passed from this world to the next. He is now pain-free, fully functional and frolicking at the foot of Rainbow Bridge. He has been re-united with his first Dad and buddy Koonik.
George may have been short in stature, but in his mind he was a big dog. He acted like one and had a big personality to go along with it. When we got George he was already six years old, but was still full of beans. He was very active and loved going to Kilcona Park. He would quickly figure out we were going there once we hit the Chief Peguis Trail and would start bouncing around in the back seat. Any detours we made to try and fool him were to no avail. This boy was too smart for his own good. When we got there he couldn’t wait to get out of the car and started chirping like mad. We would go for marathon walks through every corner of the park to tire him out but his energy levels were so high it was darn near impossible. He especially looked forward to the fundraising BBQs where he seemed to know he was getting a hot dog (with no bun). He didn’t play much there but he loved socializing and sniffing around.
George was instantly recognizable and if you ever had the opportunity to meet him, you certainly never forgot him. The mark he made on the people he interacted with was indelible.
George was thrown a lot of medical curveballs in his life, but he persevered. He recovered from major back surgery at the age of ten and from the removal of an enlarged parathyroid gland at the age of 12. Both of these involved trips to WCVM in Saskatoon where he was a big hit with both staff and students. The last battle though proved to be one he could not win. In January a tumor was discovered on his liver. During surgery to remove it the surgeon found that it had attached itself to other organs and grew around the blood vessels leading to them. It was too risky so we opted to not have it removed knowing full well the inevitable result. We decided we would make the most of the time we had left. George’s condition worsened in the months that followed eventually rendering him immobile and in great discomfort. With his quality of life diminished the hard decision was made to put George down.
George was a big part of our lives for the last eight and a half years and we will miss him terribly. He loved life and everything it had to offer and would expect us to do the same.
Thank you to KDPC for helping cultivate and maintain a wonderful park and a great community of dog-owners.
Thank you to Dr. Rhonda Stockburger and the staff at McPhillips Animal Hospital for their years of caring for George.
Thank you to Dr. Rita McKay and the Anderson Animal Hospital for providing George with acupuncture treatments and frozen peanut butter cups.
Thank you to Theresa and the staff at Sprockett’s Doggy Day Camp for giving George a safe home away from home.
Ron Hiller and Ruth McLean