Rest in Peace Rider Dog 1994-2008

We lost our beloved Rider dog today. He was quite possibly the best dog that ever lived and he has given us 12 years of unconditional love, lots of laughs, and tremendous consistency for our family.

Rider has not been well for the past month, but a steroid shot to his shoulder seemed to turn his neurological issues around and we thought we had a bit more time. Last night after dinner, he wasn't moving around so well, but we got him outside and then he layed down on the carpet instead of his bed to sleep. This morning, Mark went downstairs and he could not walk. He had also made a mess on the carpet. Mark got him outside and could tell he had lost control of his bowels but couldn't urinate. He also refused food. We called the vet and our favorite doc was there so Mark took him in at 8:30 am. I got the boys to school and met him at the vet. The vet was concerned that he was anemic and that his issues were physiological rather than neurological this time. He drew some blood and took an abdominal X-ray. Turns out Rider had a mass in his chest and a mass on his spleen. He was definitely anemic and his white cell count was high so the vet believed the mass on his spleen had ruptured. As if all of this wasn't enough, Rider was in full kidney failure. Even if we agreed to operate on the mass and stop the bleeding, there was a very slim chance his kidneys would recover. Our vet was really wonderful about the whole process and even as he was injecting Rider with the sedative and overdose of anesthesia he commented that we were racing against God and that he likely wouldn't have made it through the day.

We have to thank Rider dog for all of the times he waited patiently for us to come home, waited not so patiently for his breakfast and dinner, alerted us when things weren't quite right, completed his "head count" each night to ensure our family was safe, welcomed new members into the family with open paws, helped our toddling boys stay steady on their feet, cleaned the kitchen floor after each meal, kept Emma dog entertained so she wouldn't destroy the house, howled on queue, scared us into thinking he had seizures by performing his "psycho dog" routine, for being a (NOT SO) brave Lab when forced to swim at the beach or lake against his will and for teaching us the joys of a half open squishy tennis ball.

Thank you for all the wonderful memories, we hope doggy heaven is a never ending buffet of bacon and Special K Vanilla Almond. There will never be another Rider dog.