Velvet came to our family as a 7 week old puppy in 1998, joining our 1 year old Golden Retriever, Sandie. The two grew up together with my children. We lost Sandie in 2008 to a heart defect, at which point, Velvet took over the role of head dog. Shortly after that, Velvet was diagnosed with diabetes. I learned how to regulate her diet and give her insulin shots every 12 hours. My kids had since moved away from home, so it was basically, just Velvet and me. In time, she lost her eyesight, her hearing was iffy, and she became arthritic in her back end. She never complained. Her sense of smell was excellent and as long as I didn’t move the furniture too dramatically, she could maneuver. It was sometimes hard for her to get her back end up, but once she did, she got around just fine. We had our routine. We got up every morning by 6:00 a.m., went out to potty, ate breakfast and then came inside for her insulin shot, eye drops and pain meds by 6:30 a.m. The process repeated in the evening. In Aug of 2010, a mass was detected on her liver and everyone, including several vets, assumed it was most likely cancer. I chose to take the extra steps to be sure, just in case we were all wrong. It turned out to be an abscess which was removed, and after a few weeks of recovery, I had my dog back and she lived through another Christmas that I thought had been written off. Many people told me that I should put her down because she was too much trouble and expense. She was my family, a constant source of unconditional love and companionship and most importantly, she still had a quality of life. She was always there to greet me with tail wagging and a random bark, when I came home from work, got up in the morning or was working in the yard. One recent, sad, Saturday afternoon, she could no longer stand up by herself. In a few short hours, I watched her quality of life disappear. In the presence of my loving family, friends and the vet who has cared for her for years, we let her go to meet up again with her childhood pal – Sandie, the Golden. RIP Velvet, I will never regret the time I spent caring for you and will cherish the memories of you caring for me. You were truly one of a kind and we will hold you in our hearts forever. 4/03/1998 – 10/2/2011. Many thanks to North Palouse Vet Clinic and WSU Vet Hospital for helping Velvet to beat the odds as many times as she could and for supporting the 3 of us.

Velvets loving family; Patty, Amberly & Danny