Gloria, My Walking Buddy

Gloria.  2000-2012

On February 6th, 2012, Gloria was found to have metastatized cancer.

On February 27, 2012, she left this world.

Here is her blog, celebrating our 14 months together.

Our story started at 10 am on December 13, 2010.  I successfully defended my dissertation on December 10th in Idaho, and my "gift" to myself was getting a dog companion.  I'd actually selected Gloria ten days earlier at the county animal shelter.  She had been there since September, and I felt drawn to this senior who had not found a new home.  She was 11 at the time, by all best guesses.   

Gloria's favorite place to be, in the car, going somewhere.

Thus began our partnership, one marked by daily hour-long hikes at the beach or other outdoors locations.  My original intent was to get myself back in shape, after too many years of holding my nose to the grindstone of running a school and then academia.   I was ready to reclaim my life.  However, I was not prepared for how much Gloria loved to hike and smell and explore.   She was a dog after my own heart!

My adventuresome hiking buddy.

 Thus, every morning, we were usually at Clam Beach by 7 am.  And we'd often take in a second hike in the afternoon. Rain or shine, light or dark, we were out and about.   I fondly referred to her as my personal trainer.

January, 2012. At the beach, surprise, surprise.

 Gloria loved to eat.  But she was kind of a picky eater. Human food?  Oh, yum.    I often had to hand feed her dog food, but she'd always inhale treats of the non-dog food variety.

Begging for muffins!

Her Christmas pic, 2011. But she was begging for treats from her Uncle Stuart.

Not sure who's more excited to taste the fruitcake...

With our daily hikes, anyone who came to visit was invited to come along. Most people took us up on the offer. here are a few pictures from the last year of our visitors and hiking buddies....

Dora's visit, summer 2011.

Dad and Stuart's visit, spring, 2011

Sinead's visit, June, 2011

Dora and I took Gloria to see the old-growth redwoods...Gloria thought there were LOTS of good smells.

Gloria had two good dog friends. The first was her neighbor, Kiah, an enthusiastic, exuberant dog, a veritable fountain of youth.  Kiah came to meet Gloria at the shelter before I brought her home. They hit it off, and remained good friends.  When I was gone, Gloria would go stay with Kaih, and vice versa.  I was sad to find I had no pictures of the two of them together.

Gloria's friend Kiah

Gloria's other good dog bud was Zen, a husky we met on "Dogbuds.org".  For nearly a year, we hiked once a week.  Gloria and Zen were friends, but they didn't play together. They liked each other's presence, as a companion and fellow hiker. 

On a huge adventure together. Emily and Hebe took them cross-country.  The people kept saying they weren't lost. Zen and Gloria knew otherwise, but they didn't care. 

They both have husky smiles.

One of their last hikes together. Two huskies, happy.

Wither my nose goes, there I go...

Both dogs got to the point where they recognized each other's cars, and when we'd pull up to Zen's house, Gloria knew.  Good friends.    It made me very happy that Zen and Gloria got to go on a hike the day before we went down to Davis.  It remains a good memory.  She barked and barked, so happy in that moment.

Last beach trip.

Some special memories I have of Gloria include a trip we took to the beach with Stuart, just a week before she was diagnosed with cancer.  There were banks of foam everywhere, and we explored, smelled, and even jumped the foam.

Foam Leaps.

Looks like a whale leaping out of the foam.  We have good balance.

Another special memory, which is hanging on my wall, is the pastel of Gloria that my brother had done for me, for Christmas.   

Gloria posing with her pastel.

Gloria posed well, usually in the same position. But one day, when I snapped the camera, she yawned. 

The shadow is pretty cool, too.

Gloria's decline in January was rapid. She went from doing hour long hikes to barely 10 minutes at a very slow pace in a matter of days.  I took her into the vet's on Feb. 6th.  Her x-rays revealed tumors throughout her lungs, and another tumor near her stomach. I took her home to keep her as comfortable as possible, for as long as possible.    At first, she was miserable, and I thought I'd have to take her in  within a week to say goodbye.     I struggled to get any food in her, but she always took her pain medications.   Finally, I took her to what I thought was going to be her last trip to the beach.

Tired pup.

Love you, pup.

However, she rallied, showing us all again what a strong girl she was.  Soon she was feeling much better, but still in a lot of pain.   Pain meds helped enough to get her to the beach a few more times with Zen, and  a hike with my Dad.      Meanwhile, I knew the end was near, and I was searching for a place that might want her body to help with cancer research or teaching veterinary students. Finally I found a clinical trial at U.C. Davis that she could participate in. 

Proud of this patient.

 Without going into too much detail, she was part of a 4-hour study that will help human and canine cancer research.    I was so proud of her, for her bravery and composure during the whole thing.. We were able to spend the 4 hours exploring the Davis campus, walking along a river and seeing jackrabbits and squirrels. Gloria wanted to chase the jackrabbits. It took some convincing to keep her in the car!   I picked some flowers along the river trail. They kept well for a week, a little bit of Gloria's last day, keeping me company back home. 

Sweet Narcissus.

Sage, Rosemary, and Lavender

One of the positives to come out of going to Davis was the knowledge that I called the timing right. When the vet performed her necropsy, he found tumors in all of her abdominal organs, and said it was only a matter of a few days before her organs would have shut down. The way I see it,  she got one last adventure, and was able to contribute to maybe helping some other dogs, somewhere down the line.  

Thank you, Gloria, for the time.   I am a better human being for knowing you.

See you again someday, running free, sweet girl....