Montana was born June 7th 1998.  He was a beautiful dark haired Golden Retriever.  As a puppy he was brave, strong and full of life which he was able to hold onto until the day we had him put to sleep.
 
Montana really showed no symptoms of being ill.  He had always been a fussy eater and was very thin (I personally always thought that he realized that there were so many things out there to do that were more fun than eating!).  For him to not eat well was not a rare thing.  We just fed him more people food to compensate at those times.  On Thursday February 1st we started to realize that something was not right but thought that he had just hurt his back again.  This was not uncommon either as we have 2 dogs that play pretty rough and they sometimes hurt their backs.  We put him on some of the anti inflammatory drugs that we had for the back pain.  He was very lethargic which we put down to a side effect of the pills.  He was still wanting to go out when the children went out to play but I still noticed that he wasn't really himself.  He had always been so lively (chasing lizards, butterflies, or other neighborhood dogs) but not so much right then.  Finally on Saturday I looked at him and he was laying on the floor by my bed which was his favorite spot aside from sleeping on the bed with just me, when my husband was on the bed he always went to the floor, and I called my husband and he came and I said "we have to do something.  There is something really wrong.  He looks like he is just laying there waiting to die"  Little did we know how true those words would become.  We decided to wait until Monday morning and see how he was then.  Well by Monday morning we put him out to go to the bathroom like we have hundreds of times before and he just went out and laid down.  I was devastated.  Up until then he had been so strong and vital that we had figured that there was nothing too seriously wrong.  My husband called the vet which is just down the street and said that he was bringing him in.  When he got there he had to help him in and out of the truck.  This had never happened before as Montana's favorite thing was to go for a car ride.  Once inside they took his vital signs and then they ran some blood tests and did an x-ray.  His gums were very pale at this point so they weren't sure if it was a blood issue, auto immune disease or something else.  The vet tried to prepare my husband but I think that we just refused to hear it then.  Our nearest specialist for canine oncology is almost 2 hours away in Sarasota, Fl.  Our vet thought that he would more than likely need a blood transfusion so they decided that it would be the best thing to take my 14 year old Black Lab, Beau along to do a live transfusion on him.  Once there the vet did a sonogram and a biopsy of his spleen.  They determined that it was MH.  They said that they did not recommend treatment.  She had recently treated several dogs with no better outcome than no treatment.  I think we could have maybe prolonged it but I also had two children (age 4 and 6) to consider.  They gave him the night to survive.  In my heart I knew it was true and that he would not survive the night.  I wanted him to leave us and the children with good memories, not a night of heartache and pain.
 
I brought the children home from school early and we all met at the house.  The children used this time to say their goodbyes.  We also took some pictures of them with him so that they would have them to remember him by.  My husband and I got him in the car and we took him to the vets.  At this point he could no longer even stand.  I held him and talked to him while the vet did his thing.  He was put to rest on Feb 5, 2007.  I knew the exact moment that his life ended.  I have truly never been so devastated in my whole life.  We have a 14 year old Black Lab that I was fully prepared for his passing but not my young one or to lose him so quickly.
 
February 9, 2007
We have just arrived home form our breeders with a brand new 6 1/2 weeks old light haired Golden Retriever named Dakota.  I know it sounds crazy to do it so quickly after losing Montana but I needed to start making new memories with a new family member.  He will never be a replacement for Montana.  Montana was such an incredibly special dog and I was truly connected to him.  The children adore having a new puppy though and I'm sure he will grow up very dear to their hearts.
 
May 26, 2007
A day does not go by that I don't still think of Montana.  When people entered my house the first thing he did was to grab their wrist in his mouth, almost as though to hug them. I have spots in my yard that are still bare from his frequent visits to his favorite lizard hunting spots. Even just watching TV at night is so different without him at my feet.  From the day we got him to the day we passed he had joined me for every nap I had.  He laid beside me for 4 weeks when I was pregnant and on bedrest, only leaving me to go to the bathroom and eat. This is such a  dreadful, horrible disease.  I wish there had been more of a warning, some sort of symptom or sign to have looked for.  I hope this is able to help someone else and maybe prevent them from going through what I have gone through.
 
Judy Chiappini

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