in loving memory.

Almost a year into our marriage, Seth and I decided we would like to get a dog.  He always had one growing up and with him being away a lot for work, I wanted the sense of security that comes from owning a large breed dog.  We both readily agreed on a black lab and after a little debate, named him Tucker.  We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into and somehow ended up with a very health challenged, high maintenance animal.  Oh he had the usual puppy stages that they all go through (and somehow managed to survive without losing too many shoes and socks) but he also had chronic diarrhea, colitis, allergies and skin sensitivity and eventually seizures.  He was diagnosed as epileptic and we were told nothing could be done to stop his seizures but we could try to control them.  Hence the beginning of about 4 years of blood tests, medications and seizures.  It's a terrible thing to see your pet go through these things.  The first few before he was on any kind of med were the worst.  They lasted long, created a huge mess at whatever part of the house he was in and he would bark and growl at us afterwards, not recognizing who we were.  These symptoms did improve after he was on a therapeutic level of drugs but no matter how much it was increased, his seizures still increased.  By this past year, he was beginning to have clusters of about 5-6 seizures in a 30 hour period followed by a week of abnormal activity.  By abnormal I mean that he was in his own little twilight zone....bad balance, blank stare, etc.  Our vet kept assuring us his quality of life was "good" but we never felt comfortable with that analysis.  We could see what it was doing to him.  Physically he was aging drastically (despite his young years), he never wanted to do much anymore and his body was being wracked by these seizures every 3-4 weeks.  With a week of recovery, that only gave him 2 weeks at most with no problems.  It was a terrible decision to make and it took us awhile to make it, but we feel confident that it was the right choice.

This is in loving memory of our dear beloved Tucker.  He was a loyal, sweet, smart and friendly dog.  He loved us and he loved Delia.  We are very sad to see him go, but we will remember him as a part of our family always.