Our hearts are shattered…….
Today Mike and I said goodbye to a big part of our family. Zeus was the best and without him we would never had met many of you reading this. We have met so many people that we call friends because of Zeus.
Zeus loved agility as long as he could do it his way (i.e. dad you MUST be telling me the wrong obstacle because this tunnel looks better and I have to stop on the top of the a-frame to get a better look at who is watching me). BUT most important he just wanted to please us and would do anything we asked of him.
We retired Zeus 1 Q short of his Natch because of an injury. Never the less he was always a champion in our eyes. He competed and had many titles in six different agility venues over the years, that was never important to us. The fact that he loved agility was enough.
In recent years his favorite thing at a trial was to pop his head out of the x-pen and bark for a treat if someone he knew was walking by and he always got treats and pats from everyone!
Last year after taking the winter off we ran him in a Hoopers class in April and we immediately noticed his back legs weren’t working the way they should even though at home he would run in the backyard with Stryder and Race. After many tests over several months we received the devastating news that he had a parathyroid tumor but more devastating is that he also had bilateral adrenal cancer that was attached to the vena cava for which there is no cure and a very risky invasive treatment that they did not think would help. We were told he had 12 weeks without treatment and not much more with the treatment. We decided to bring him home and let him live his life happy for what time he had left. We were blessed to have had him for 28 more weeks.
We let him go today to be free and run and are very fortunate that he is back home with us tonight where he belongs.
Zeus was a big part of our lives for almost 14 years which we know if good for a large dog but it doesn’t make it any easier…..
Hug your dogs a little tighter tonight from us and Zeus because life is just too short.
Michelle and Mike Whall
