Since then, our darling Trooper, the apple of Dave's eye, left this world. After a brave, extended fight with multiple cancers that included surgeries and chemo, Trooper died in November 2014. This amazing dog actually beat the cancer, but in the end, the chemo beat him.
Just today, we said goodbye to the irrepressible Zoe, who was the life of the party and the head of the pack since 2003. Cancer also got the better of her. Hers was a sudden and precipitous decline, less than a week from diagnoses to last goodbye.
So Angel, first to our household in 2002, is last dog standing. At 16, struggling with crippling arthritis and numerous other scourges of old age, it's not likely she'll see another winter.
These three dogs--they've been our family in every sense of the word. Life with them was joyful; life without them is painful.
Left to right: Angel, Trooper, Zoe
