So Long, Daisy

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

From day one, Daisy was runner. I once clocked that dog at twenty-eight miles an hour. Up a steep grade. She could outrun a jack rabbit and if she was on it soon enough, she'd snag the rabbit on the fly. She wasn't quite as fast as a coyote, and lordy she did hate her some coyotes. With a passion. She and Blackie were the WWE tag team of coyote vigilantes. This valley has more coyotes than the entire state of Texas, and Daisy was always alert. She'd roust you outta stage four sleep at three AM demanding to defend the Casa and the cats. 

This is my favorite picture of Daisy, charging through an unamed creek bottom out in the hills where we often walk. Well, I walk, the dogs run.

 

She was restless, had ants in her pants, always on the move. She had free access to a dozen acres of open land and sometimes she'd vanish for hours. Day or night. Her coloring blended with the hillside brush, so you'd never see where whe was. When we'd walk out in the hills and ravines in the mornings, she'd run for an hour. I'd see her off in the distance, at the top of some ridgeline a half mile away, flying over the boulders and dodging the scrub oak.

The Future Anti-Coyote Tag Team  

Daisy was barely ten years old and I never saw this coming. The Osteosarcoma, that is. That's fancy talk for bone cancer, which affects large breed dogs more often that it should. Mrs TWC reminded me that you never see it coming. But still, I expected this dog would be around for the long haul. We may have mistaken the early symptoms for dysplasia, which is another problem large breed dogs are stuck with. Think of it as arthritis of the hips, though that isn't exactly what it is. When she began to have trouble jumping into the truck for the morning hike, it was likely the cancer and not hip dysplasia. 

Kramer & Daisy

Jake & Daisy April 2005

Daisy was a rescue dog and was about six months old when she and Blackie came home with the kids in March of 2005. The vet seemed to think she was likely an Afghan Hound crossed with Golden Retirever. 

Daisy & Leo

The House Blond & Daisy Circa 2005

Cooling Off on a Hot Summer Morning

Daisy's last meal was grilled tri-tip steak, which she happily snaffled up like a mad man. The dog never was one to waste time chewing her food. I can't figure how she could ever taste anything, but I guess a little of the flavor must rub off on the taste buds as the food slides on by.