A Sad Farewell

A little over two weeks ago on June 1st, Cleo crossed over the Rainbow bridge after she had a fall and could no longer stand on her front leg. The xrays of her leg showed bone cancer and the vet said it would not get better so she would no longer be able to walk, and that this type of cancer was extremely painful so I did the best thing possible for my dear friend and that was to end her suffering as fast as I could. She went quickly and peacefully after being sedated and given the final injection.

She left us just 2 months shy of reaching her 12th birthday, and had been making a remarkable rally since her difficulties this spring since I had started her on Rimadyl and some Glucosamine/Condroitin/MSM suppliments and fish oil to help her move easier. She even got back to climbing her mountains again to nap in her favorite places and this bought her several more months of happiness. She never gave up the fight and ate her last meal with great pleasure as always.

Cleopatra "Queen of Denile" my fourth sled dog came from my best friend Vicky's kennel of beautiful Alyeska Alaskan Malamutes. Her older half sister by her mother crossed over 7 yrs earlier,they are reunited again,together waiting for the rest of us now.

I will remember her always, with a winning smile ready, she had a great sense of humor and was the trickster of our pack, who was an expert at stealing the fresh picked veggies from my basket as I carried them from the garden to the house, or pulling the vines out of the ground while not so daintily picking the peas as they ripened and wove through to her side of the fence. She was also a fierce protector of everyone she considered a family member, even our pet rabbit when one day a friend brought their dog into our house and he got curious and went to investigate the rabbit hutch in our living room. Cleo slowly backed him off with some low growls using her body as a wedge and it was amazing to see how she managed to avoid confrontation, and achieve her aim of dividing aggressor from prey.

She ran in wheel position next to Jesse in our sled team though she never really seemed to do well, struggling to keep up and after I realized this wasn't changing I stopped running her since she didn't seem to be enjoying it as much as the others.

Her greatest passion in life was her food, that, and choosing her favorite places to nap in the yard. The one thing she hated was the grooming brush... go figure, it might have had something to do with the fact that she was a wooly Mal so her coat needed constant grooming because it turned into dredlocks and picked up lots of yard junk if left for too long..she was quick to run whenever she saw this tool in my hand.

I will miss the way she also loved to croon in her sweet, soft, woo-woo tones when she was happy about life which was often, even up till the end days. Then her fierce barking when she was busy doing her guarding of the pack job as Omega, alerting me to some thing upsetting her outside the yard.

I miss her so much already, but I know she is watching over us now free from pain and happy to be reunited with her sister again. Rest well my sweetness girlie girl, till we meet again..