Ikey Boy

 Somehow dogs would just show up in our yard (I may or may not have had anything to do with that). Sweetie, our bulldog was one of those pets. When Sweetie first arrived, she smelt so bad my dad called her Stinky. It was awful.  3 weeks and about 10 baths later, she finally lost her smell. Sweetie is the mother of Ike and Tina who were born in 1996....YEP. 1996. That makes them 14 and some odd months. Granted, they are almost blind, close to being deaf, and teeth-less, we couldn't have a better set of pups.
About a month ago, we found out that Ike had cancer. The vet couldn't tell us how serious it was, but told us to give him lots of lovin and fatten him up with a juicy steak every now and then.

Ike was my running partner, the first one to greet me when I would come home from college, and he would even try and play basketball with me...not his best sport. On our wedding day, Taylor was getting ready to remove the garter when Ike ran up and intervened. He put his head in my lap and looked up at me with those big pouty eyes-just wanting a little love and attention. Ike made it to 2011, but just barely. It's hard to imagine going home and not having him there. It really is like loosing a member of the family. I'm sure he is up in heaven with all of his teeth, and back to chasing those armadillos he loves so much.