Sad news from our house- Boo Radley's obituary

I wanted to let all of Boo's friends know that we lost him last night.  He had stopped eating earlier in the week and we suspected that the inevitable was approaching, but hoped it was indigestion or he just needed a laxative.  I took him to the emergency clinic last night and they found 2 massive tumors in his belly (see he wasn't fat!!!) that were likely attached to organs and pushing everything out of the way.  And making him very uncomfortable, if not causing outright pain. 

We had him for 8.5 years and he was an adult when we got him.  So he was a minimum of 9.5 years. Likely a few more, so for a near-giant breed, he had a pretty long life.  And a great one, at least the last 8.5 years of it!

We adopted him from Petfinder.com in Calgary in 2004 where he was brought by a rescue group after being found in Idaho full of buckshot.  He loved the dogparks in Calgary and later in Seattle (we all did).  We don't have much for dogparks here, but as they were slowing down they enjoyed laying on the air conditioned kitchen floor tiles instead!!  He did cement his reputation as a killer last summer when he killed a groundhog and a squirrel in the same week! 

He is survived by his life and squirrel chasing partner Ben (and we don't know how much gas he has left in the tank...), who Dan said howled after we left for the vet (he has howled before at the moment of both Scout & Dippy's deaths), so I suspect that he knew more than we did at that point.  And Hermy, our lone kitty, who may or may not give a crap.  Though I suspect that she does not.

We will miss our gentle giant.  But not the ridiculous amounts of undercoat fur that he was blowing every other week (it's currently spread all over our house and yard, so we couldn't forget him if we tried), nor that weight-bearing sharp-clawed paw that he insisted at shoving at one all the time....

He was a good dog and a great athlete.  And a better friend to all of us.

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