...and your little dog too...!

Just how many losses can one family accumulate in the shortest possible period of time? Well, we're going to try and see.

Today I am driving out to the Woodfield Mall, meeting up at the Sears auto center, with Kim Bobka a dog trainer working with Airedale Rescue of the Midwest. Once there, I will give her our dog, our dog food, our dog bed, dog toys, and instructions for our dog. Our family of 4 people, one dog, will be down to 3 people, 0 dog. (With Natalie now in summer camp, we're temporarily at 2 people.)

Our dog Chloe attacked a small dog in our neighborhood park a couple of weeks ago. The little, old dog required 25 metal stitches.

It took me about 10 seconds to realize that Chloe's tenure with our family had come to an end.

Bringing Chloe into our family in March of 2003 was an act of hope for the future. Ken had finished his first round of cancer treatment the previous August, our beloved 1st airedale Haley had died in January 03, and even though we were concerned that Ken's cancer might be rearing its head again, we chose to imagine that this might not be the case...and so we quickly brought another dog into our lives.

From the beginning Chloe was a challenge: a dominant dog that wanted to be the boss. She required boot camp training and later an electric collar to try to wrestle her dominance down to the ground. Ken was her master...but soon the master was sick again...and again...and again...and then he disappeared altogether.

That's a lot of confusion for an animal that just wants to know who's in charge and what her job is.