My family and I fell in love with our baby Sassy the first time we met her. She survived Parvo as a puppy so we thought the worst was behind us. She was born June 4, 1996 and went everywhere with me. We owned our own business at the time so she went to work with me everyday. I don't think she ever met a stranger she loved everyone and would roll over for belly rubs.

She had 2 litters of puppies, one of her puppies we still have and Missy is 5 yrs old. Sassy also nursed 2 separate litters of kittens that weren't being taken care of by their mom. She loved to get a bath when you told her it was time for a bath she would go get into the bathtub and when her bath was over she would roll upside down on her blanket.

She has never taken any classes, but always listened and would never venture out of the yard. Our yard is not fenced and she would lay in the front yard and watch cars and people on bikes go by. She loved to chase squirrels and rabbits and dig holes looking for "the mouse" which was what she thought moles where. She would stick her nose in the tunnels they leave and just burrow along it with her snout all around the yard.

Even though she had started to get older and had lost a few teeth she never slowed down. We did get her though, a stool to get up on our bed where she slept, because she couldn't always get up on the bed by herself. During the July 4th weekend 2007 we were moving something in the house and she turned quickly to get out of the way and just stopped and sat down. So we knew something wasn't right she never made a sound, but when we  looked closely we saw her back right ankle was swelling. My husband and I both knew it was broken because it had started to swell so we called the vet. We had to leave her over night because this happened late in the evening. First thing the next morning our vet called and told us the bone was broken because of a tumor on it. He told us we needed to decide what we wanted to do. The leg could be amputated, but he would have to take the whole leg. He also said there seemed to be two small spots on her lungs, that could be cancer or a fungus.

As this was a Friday he agreed to cast her leg and let her come home for the weekend while we decided. We called ALOT of vets all over the US. They all said because of where the break was no one could save her leg we even posted her x-rays on the Internet for help. Some said because of her age they didn't recommend amputation.  After much thought though, on July 9th, we decided to have her leg amputated; and she got to come home on the 12th.  The vet told us we probably had 6 months more with her. No one in our house ever noticed a lump or anything on her leg.

She had to go on a diet because she weighed 98 pounds and the vet said that was a lot for three legs. I also tried Flax Seed Oil and cottage cheese as I had read somewhere it helped fight cancer cells. Everything seemed to be going good. She spent the rest of the summer laying in the yard, digging holes and rolling in the grass. We installed a handicapped ramp so she wouldn't have to use stairs to go outside which she seemed to like. We live in Illinois and have had a lot of snow this winter. Sassy loved to go out and play in the snow.

One day in the end of January we noticed she couldn't seem to stand up. So back to the vet we went, he thought she might have a pinched nerve in her back and can't feel her foot. And when you only have one back foot that's not good. So we started her on steroids and deramaxx (also see "Playing It Safe with Dermaxx" blogspot.) That combination seemed to be working although we now used a sling around her back end to support her when she walked. Although she now kind of slides herself around the house with her legs instead of standing up. We still went out in the snow and checked things out.

On Thursday, February 7th, she got sick - we just figured she had eaten to much as she had gotten into the other dogs food. Then on Saturday, February 9th, one of my sons came home with some french fries from McDonalds and Sassy tried to knock everyone over to slide down the hallway on her butt to get the fries. On Sunday morning she had went to the bathroom in the kitchen and gotten sick in the dining room. She then just laid around all day and didn't want to go out or anything. She also didn't want any food which we knew couldn't be good, but since she had been on a diet -- maybe it was the french fries.

She just wanted someone to constantly be sitting and petting her. In the evening she starting breathing a little heavy. So we decided to take her back to the vet in the morning. But it was not to be as she passed at 11:45 p.m. at home with all of us loving her. The vet thinks it might have been a build up of fluid around her lungs and it could have caused a stroke or a heart attack.

We never knew that dogs could get cancer and now I am worried about her puppy. So I will probably be over cautious with her. Now Missy follows me everywhere because she is missing her mom.