Tommy and I lost our first GRR boy, Butters (01-122 Bear) to hemangiosarcoma in August of 2012. We adopted Cosmo (12-093) in September of 2012, when he was 6 years old. We really aren’t the “Cosmo” type and changed his name to Casey. We always called him our grief dog. He slept with us and each night and morning, he would snuggle up to one of us and put his head on our chest as if to say, “It’s ok, I’m here now”. And it was OK. He absolutely healed our hearts after losing Butters.
He had lived with a man for 5 years and definitely had an affinity for Tommy, so I took him through a basic obedience class to help him and I bond. He was just awesome there, and everyone told me what a good-looking dog he was. I thanked them and felt so proud, because not only was he gorgeous, he was just sweet. He was my rock solid, bombproof dog. The only flaw he had was that he didn’t like being an only dog when we were gone. I still look at the nibble marks on my back door and smile. Jacki and Margo were nice enough to let us foster Lexus (12-050). She was just what Casey needed. He was still more bonded to us, but she provided something we couldn’t, and he felt safer when we were both out of the house. Sadly, we lost Lexus to cancer in February of 2013. He welcomed every foster and gently taught them the ropes. We began fostering Ruger in December of 2012. I remember bringing Tucker (10-038) home and Tommy was out of town on business, so it was just me to do all the introductions. I put Casey and Ruger in our courtyard (it had a wrought-iron gate) and brought Tucker through the backyard gate. He took one look at Casey and Ruger and he was barking, growling and snarling. This went on for a while until Casey backed up and lay down, as if to tell Tracker “I mean you no harm”. We had a successful meeting because Casey made it that way. He was just the best dog! He had enough energy to play ball and run around in the yard, yet he knew when we came inside, that it was time to settle down.
Hemangiosarcoma claimed his life in 3 days - the exact same cancer that took Butters from us, also in 3 days. I am forever grateful to Dr. Eric Winston. He told us to bring Casey in at 5pm (this was a Friday) if he wasn’t better and he stayed with him until midnight. Saturday we took him to a specialty hospital where they continued diagnostics – no one knew what was wrong. Finally, the radiologist on Sunday afternoon confirmed a hemangiosarcoma diagnosis. We knew it was time and we knew we had to be good to Casey, as he had always been to us. Good friends that were close to our dogs came to the hospital and were able to love on him and say their goodbyes. I think we stayed about 3 ½ hours with him. We only had him for 3 years, but they were so fun-filled. We have so beautiful and heartwarming memories of him that we will always cherish. We will see you at The Bridge dear Casey.