Good-bye Sweet Kody

After fourteen years of love and loyalty, we said good-bye today to our sweet Kody. Kody came into our lives as a nine week old puppy and will always have a place in our hearts. Kody was such a sweet-tempered dog, so patient and loving. He loved people and children, and was always such a happy dog. When he was younger he loved to fetch and to swim. We have so many memories of Kody and the times we shared. I know our other Lab, JD will miss him terribly, too. JD is almost 18 months younger, and they have been inseparable for many years.

About six months or so Kody started having problems getting around, and was limping sometimes. A few more months later we noticed he was lying around a lot more than usual and would cry because it was hard for him to get up. We took him to the vet for a full set of senior workups. He had lost a lot of weight (from a tubby 85 lbs. to a thin 69 lbs.) and the vet found he had pretty bad arthritis and hip pain. The rest of the tests came back clean though, so we started him on Rimadyl and a joint supplement. That seemed to help for a couple months. In the last month or so we noticed he was having more and more bad days where he just laid around and had trouble getting up or moving, and occasionally not eating much (extremely rare for Kody!!) . He was losing more weight, too. This week decided it was probably time to make a decision about whether or not to end his life.

Today we took him back to the vet for another exam and to discuss our options. Kody had lost another 15 lbs. in three months, down to 55lbs. His heart rate was very rapid and his breather labored, in addition to his arthritis, joint, and hip problems. After careful consideration we realized it was time to say good-bye and end his pain. With tears streaming down my face, we held his head in our hands and stroked his sweet face as he went to sleep for the last time. It was heartbreaking to make this decision, and to say good-bye. The only consolation is that he had a full life with lots of love, and he is no longer in pain.

I spent the afternoon digging through old photographs and reliving memories. I'm going to scan some of them into the computer and put together a slideshow to remember Kody by. In the meantime, I'm sharing a photo from when he was a puppy, and one I took in August 2006.

Good-bye, Kody. We love you and will miss you always.

Kody: January 14, 1994 - January 18, 2008

1994


(taken September 2006)

Two Winners ... Instead of One

I've decided to declare two winners from my blog contest, rather than one. Why? Because the rules apparently weren't clear, and as far as I can determine, everyone's intentions were in the right place. I have thrown out all of the duplicate votes from the same IP addresses, and removed all votes solicited from large, public forums. I think this leveled the playing field back to where it should have been. =) Once I did that, the top two vote getters were pretty close. So, I have decided they will both be getting their 11x14 image. Congratulations to Percy and to little Gavin. I'll have your photo for you soon.

A malfunction with the contest poll

The contest poll was set to expire at 12:00 AM CST tonight, but for some reason it closed out early. I'm not sure why that happened. It may have used a clock based on the polling site, which may be in a different time zone. To keep things fair I've extended the poll until Monday at 12:00 PM. So that gives you a few extra hours to make up for it. =) Of course it may close out early again if time zones are a factor ... just to make things more complicated.

Another Request to Keep it Fair

I hate to be the poll police and put a damper on the fun here, but lets keep this contest fair to everyone. Not only am I requesting that you keep your votes to one per household, but please refrain from asking for votes via internet forums that you belong to as well. I'm able to view the links from my stat counter, so I can see where the links are coming from. Remember, votes should come from you, your friends and your family. Thanks for keeping to the rules!

Make Sure You're Playing Fair!

I'm really enjoying the blog contest, and its been fun watching the results go back and forth! This is just a friendly little reminder though ... to keep things fair, only ONE vote per HOUSEHOLD will count. In case you're wondering, the poll site shows me IP addresses with the votes ... ;) It looks like I have some duplicate votes I'll have to remove!

Just a few days left to get your vote in ...

A Contest for the New Year

I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of my clients for supporting me this past year, as I got my business off the ground. I've enjoyed working with each and every one of you!!

To celebrate the end of 2007, I thought it was time for a contest!! It was so hard to pick my favorite client images from the past year, and there are so many more shots I wanted to include. A few of you were my early-day guinea pigs and let me practice on you, so I've included your shots here, too. To be fair though, I limited it to one shot per family.

Please feel free to forward the link to this post on to family and friends so they can vote, too. One vote per household, please! Voting will be open until Monday, January 14th at 12:00 AM (CST).

So what does the winner get?? Their winning image as an 11x14 (or 12x12) print.

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