This evening, on the fifth anniversary of the 911 tragedy, we shed a few extra tears as we placed Sindy in her final resting place under the big oak tree in the back garden area. She loved to lay under that tree as a pup and watch us work in the garden. She will now watch over the "outback" forever. Sindy was always happy. If she was awake, her tail was wagging. Even this evening, when she was so ill that she could hardly walk alongside me to the back garden for our last goodbye, her tail wagged right to the end. Jeff, the vet who has always cared for and comforted her through a life with several tragedies, came to ease her pain one last time. Charlie, Jeff and I held her and stroked her scarred, patchwork coat until her tail and breathing stopped. Her happy joy for life will be sorely missed here.

Sindy was a beautiful pup that held great promise in the show ring. She had several reserve wins as a puppy and was maturing into a lovely yearling when her show career was ended. She was attacked by another dog and nearly skinned alive. Almost half of her torso and one leg were without skin and her left rear leg had almost been bitten through. We were told that she could never survive such serious injury because the risks of infection and circulatory collapse were so great. We rushed her to the clinic at Oklahoma State University, where she was kept in ICU for over 2 weeks. They had to treat her as if she were a burn victim due to the loss of skin integrity. She had wet dressing changes every two hours around the clock and always wagged the entire time the vets and students were performing procedures that they knew must be painful. She spent another two weeks recovering from several surgeries that pieced her skin back together enough to cover most of her body. Her rear leg had no skin on the inner side and she had to regrow a covering for it. The muscles and tendons were seriously damaged and she always favored that side a bit when romping around the yard. She eventually did recover and had a lovely coat - complete with jagged scar lines and puckers where the grafts had been done. We called her "Frankenpup" because she always looked as if she had been stitched together from spare parts ;-)

Shortly after Sindy turned 8, a lump suddenly appeared on the inside of the back leg that had been so seriously injured. It turned out to be a very aggressive tumor that affects muscle and fascia. There was no real treatment for it other than to keep slicing her up as each nodule arose. The tumors didn't seem to be painful for her, but the surgery and recovery were. We opted NOT to have more surgeries. The pathology report and best prognosis said she would probably have about 6-10 good months, then the disease would hit something vital and she would decline quickly. We pledged to let her be with us as long as she was able to maintain necessary body functions and enjoy her life. We also pledged that when her life was no longer a joy, but a burden, we would let her go gently. Although Sindy has had some trouble eating and swallowing for months now, at the end of last week she began to refuse food and urinate excessively. She rallied over the weekend and did eat some (with her tail wagging the whole time), but it was clear that the food was not staying down as it should. Today I looked into those dark, loving eyes and saw that the time had come for us to do as we had pledged over two and one-half years ago. She had beat the odds for much longer than anyone expected. It was time for her to rest.