For the past few months, I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about Otis, a rottweiler my wife adopted from a rescue house.
Now, instead of telling you about my great new friend, I’m writing Otis’ obituary.
We had to put Otis down today. He had bone cancer and it couldn’t be cured.
We discovered the cancer yesterday after he landed awkwardly jumping from a groomer’s table. At first we thought his ankle was sprained, but when the vet took x-rays, he spotted the tumor.
We brought Otis home with the idea of keeping him on pain meds for a while and letting him live out a little longer life, but it was just too hard from him to hop around the house. Over night, the swelling in his leg increased, and we realized he just wasn’t going to get any better.
Otis was my first dog. I never had a dog growing up. As first dogs go, he was a good one. He was already well socialized, well trained and eager to please. He made friends with every one he met. The phrase, “He’s a good dog,” was invented to describe Otis.
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Our sincere condolences.
Bill & Tracy
Comment by Bill Blevins — April 19, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
So sorry to hear about Otis, Howard. He truly was a good dog. I’ll give my pack an extra cookie today in honor of Otis …
Comment by Benz — April 20, 2008 @ 8:19 am
Thank you for sharing Otis’s photo and story. He has such loving, intelligent eyes. My thoughts go out to you and your family in your time of loss.
Comment by Robin Walls (5x5) — April 20, 2008 @ 9:22 am
sorry to hear it, buddy. best wishes and sincere condolences.
Comment by David Johnson — April 22, 2008 @ 10:57 am
Julie and I send our condolences. A couple days ago we both watched the video that you had posted on the other blog of you and Billie walking Otis . We both commented that he looked like a great, friendly dog.
Comment by Bruce McLean — April 22, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
Hey Howard, Saw this referenced on Bob’s blog. As a sad coincidence, I buried our lab Candy about a week ago in our back yard. She had the same thing - bone cancer in the front shoulder. We went the whole route with pain patches, etc. for a couple of months before finally making the call to end it after she stopped eating. You have my sympathy. It’s a tough thing to do.
- Ed
Comment by Ed — April 25, 2008 @ 1:28 pm