I am writing this in loving memory of our beloved Zeus that passed away this afternoon, May 31, 2006 and our beloved Bear that passed only 6 months earlier. Both of my dogs, Bear and Zeus died from osteosarcoma in the leg.  Neither of them we knew had the disease until the day of their death. My story is a little different from most others I have read because we chose to let them pass right after they were diagnosed.

We got Bear on Christmas Eve 1997 and lost him November 15, 2005. He was a gift for my son that had just had heart surgery.  We had no intention of getting a dog, but fell in love with Bear from day one. He had the same personality as my son and was loyal and loving and very protective, not only of him but our whole family.

One year later, in January 2007, we got a pal for Bear -- another Rottweiler whom we named Zeus. He was just a little tiger from the get go, and had the same exact  personality as my other two sons.  Zeus and Bear became best friends.  Both were males and just got along so well and adored each other! I have three sons which at the time were in 6th grade, 8th grade and and a sophomore in high school.  Our house was always full of soccer players and friends of  the boys. Both Bear and Zeus attended almost every soccer game my sons played, and watched intently as the ball moved around the field. Zeus would play for hours outside with the boys while Bear sat quietly and watched.  No two dogs could have had completely different personalities - yet they complemented each other in every way. Every young person that visited our home fell in love with these two dogs and Bear and Zeus were absolutely awesome with all of them.

In November, 2005 I could tell that Bear was not feeling right.  I assumed it was just old age. I went and got a new puppy- a tiny Pomeranian to be his pal, as I had heard that puppies sometimes cheer elderly and ailing dogs up. Two weeks later I took my new puppy in for her shots, the next day it was Bear and Zeus's turn for their yearly checks. We took them in together and told the vet that Bear had a lump on his leg, and had been limping a little. We thought that maybe he had hurt it during the last hurricane, a few days earlier.

Not even and hour later my vet called and said that she had bad news -- Bear wasn't injured but that he had bone caner in his leg and it had fully spread to his lungs.  She also told us that the bone was paper thin and at any moment just playing with Zeus could make it break and the pain would be far worse. Of course she told us the options, do nothing and wait it out; amputate the leg and try to let him live with out it, but even with that option his days were very limited because the cancer had already spread through his body; or let him go peacefully before the pain became unbearable. We decided that it was not fair to watch him suffer, so that afternoon one of my sons, my husband, Zeus and I sat quietly with him him and held him while he went to heaven. For weeks after that Zeus sat and watched for Bear to come home.  He moped and would not eat and carried around the little stuffed duck that Bear always had in his mouth. It was so sad, but within a month or two Zeus had decided that he liked Gigi and would take her whole head in his mouth and just kiss her. They became great pals by February, 2006. Everyone was amazed by this huge 160 pound Rottweiler being so gentle with a 5 pound Pomeranian.  It was amazing he was her protector and guard.

The day before yesterday I returned home from a trip and my sons told me that Zeus had truly acted like himself for the first time since Bear passed away. Zeus had been swimming in the lake, catching tennis balls and having a ball with all the kids visiting our home. That was Monday, but that afternoon he began limping and we thought he had pulled a muscle or stepped on something in the lake because we could not see anything. Yesterday morning I went out to bring Zeus in while the exterminator was here, and called him many times.  Normally he would run up and greet me right away but this time he did not. I heard a small whimper and saw him laying in the garage under the jet ski.  First I thought he had a stroke, because he would not even lift his head.  He had thrown up and urinated on the floor where he had slept the night before, and was in so much pain. My son called his brother and we all three carefully lifted him up and took him to the vet right away. My vet looked at us with sadness in her eyes and said his leg was completely broken in half as if he had been hit by a car although nothing had happened. She felt strongly that he had the same bone cancer that Bear had just died from, but knew we had been devastated by Bear's death,  so she sent us today to a specialist, an Orthopedic Surgeon for a second opinion.