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Sadie - 1996-2008

Meet Sadie

Sadie was the light of my life. She picked me when she was 8 weeks old and boy did she teach me a thing or two in her short 11 years of life.

In the first year of her life she destroyed more property then you could imagine possible. I'm positive it was my fault, as I had no idea what I was doing. Add a nice crate and a good trainer and we quickly started to find our way.

As with most huskies, she was so much smarter than me - it kept me on my toes, but boy did we have fun. Camping, hiking, biking or just walking were her favorite activities. I kept her entertained and she kept me in shape, it was a well balanced relationship.

At the age of 8 she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer - a mast cell tumor was removed from from her front leg, but they couldn't get it all. We were given three choices: treat it aggressively, amputate the leg or accept that she would only live another 6-12 months. I was devastated - we were both so active, so I felt my only choice was to treat it.

We had a great doggy oncologist who started radiation treatments immediately. I spent about $10-15K and worked from home for nearly 2 months to care for her (my boss was amazing). Although I am confident I made the right decision for us at the time, I can't say I would do the same again. It was such a painful and traumatic experience for her that I'm not sure it was worth it. At it's worst she took about 25 pills a day, including morphine, sedatives and large doses of benedryl and antibiotics. But once we started there was really no backing out.

She recovered and our relationship was stronger than ever. She only lived another 3 years, but those were years I wouldn't have had otherwise, so I'm thankful. In the end it was the cancer treatments that weakened her body and her kidneys were the first to go.

I know I'll never love another dog as much as Sadie, but I'm thankful for every memory we created as a team.