I was just playing around on Dogster.com and Catster.com. I may be sending some cool stuff out! So I just found this amazing blog about a guy who is walking with his two dogs across the country in support of finding a cure/treatment for Canine Cancer. Canine Cancer unfortunately made it's way into my life this past year. I am still saddened, especially with the loss of a very special furry friend of mine back in August. Tango was such an amazing dog and I had the pleasure of taking care of him over early summer, while his owner went back east to visit her parents. I took care of him and stayed overnight with him as his pet sitter for a bit over 2 weeks. I had an amazing time with him + he and I bonded very quickly! Special times together included a fun visit to the ocean beach off of Hwy 1 in Pescadero, along with a friend of mine and Blue, a friend's dog, who came with us as well. And watching Tango, who is a Corgi, chase Blue around and nip at her heals as if she's a sheep, was just so exciting and I was laughing most of the time! He loved riding in the car with me, he got to meet several of my other doggie buddies, because I was almost overbooked with pet sitting jobs between July and September, so I always had another job or two to do besides the overnight job that I happened to be doing at the same time. He was so incredibly good with other dogs and even kids - very protective as well. It was so refreshing to be around. I even got to bring him home (this never happens!!!) for a dinner my parents were having for my Gramma who was down to visit for 2 weeks; he was allowed inside, and to lie down underneath my chair while I ate dinner and then the rest of the time, he was content to just walk around and say hi to other people. I was quite impressed. I loved taking care of a dog who trully loved life, as I do as a human being. So when I got a weird phone call from his owner after she got back, saying he was acting weird and two days later wasn't able to walk around, let alone stand up. I was upset and his owner was upset & I thought maybe I had given him too much exercise or he ate something weird that I didn't see or.....he was taken to the vet 3 days later and the vet found 5 swollen lymph nodes, most in his armpits and near his elbow joint. One was biopsied and a couple days later I get an email from his owner saying that he has very far gone advanced lymphoma, I was very upset. I remember crying my eyes out for hours after I got that email; no one was even at home, I think my parents were in Tahoe at the time; wow, it took me a while to try to get over that and even to get a hold of his owner so that I could visit him and say goodbye. 3 weeks came and went before I was able to find out if I could see him but he was put down because it was obvious he was suddenly very sick and in a lot of pain and just wasn't himself. T (his owner), decided to just give him some peace instead of putting him on hardcore chemo just to help him live a bit longer.
I'm still very sad when I hear something about Canine Cancer. I will always miss Tango greatly and wish that I was given more time to get to know him and love him before he was put to sleep. Shortly after all of that happened, I was at a Pet Fair of some kind up in San Rafael and one of the tables was CanineCancer.org - the leading organization doing research along with the UK Vet Research people to try to make a test for canine cancer that can be done super early, even before showing symptoms of any kind and will be cheap/affordable & allow owners more information about exactly what is wrong with their dog, if it's treatable, how long you have if it isn't. So they are amazing and I got some really good information from them at that fair plus I donated some money and got a bracelet - one of those rubbery bracelets that are different colors and usually say something on them depending on what they stand for - I love it - it's Glow-in-the-Dark and says Cure CanineCancer.org. I recommend checking that out.
So when I just found the link to 2 Dogs 2000 Miles, I was amazed by what this dog owner is doing in the name of raising awarence and educating people about the reallities of Canine Cancer.
The link for the website is: http://www.2dogs2000miles.org/Home_Page.html. He also writes a blog and it can be found here: http://www.2dogs2000miles.org/Remember.html
If you want to put a dog you know who died of cancer on their memoriam wall on their site, you can email them the name at: memwall@2dogs2000miles.org
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