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Rest in peace old friend

Ken F

IBA #44567
Diesel (Ch.Harlwoods Keeps on Truckin) died suddenly yesterday afternoon.
Probably a massive stroke. He was fine one minute, and gone the next.
I'm thankful that he left me one of his sons
diesel.JPG
Ken
 
Sorry for the loss of your friend. He will live on in his son. Glad to hear he didn't suffer.
 
Thanks to all for the support. Diesel came to me at age 6 1/2. He had been a very pampered show dog his whole life up to that point. He had his own trainer, handler, a personal on-staff vet,
and a groomer. However he spent his life in a large pen and had never "bonded with a human" to that point. He was a consummate professional in the show ring but very lacking in the skills of being a house dog. He quickly became a best friend and lived out his life in a loving environment.

Diesel and his "kid" Tank who is now 1 1/2 years old and is following in his dad's footsteps .....
Diesel & Tank 1.jpg
 
I am very sorry for your loss. They are both beautiful animals!
 
So sorry, Ken. It's a very tough loss, and hard to explain to those who aren't dog people. Fortunately he will live on in his son.
 
Diesel

Ken,

Sorry to hear of the loss of your German Shepherd companion, Diesel. I understand the sadness you feel. I hope your young dog will help ease the pain.

We lost our large greyhound, Buster, three years ago and there is not a day that goes by that we don't think of him.

Bill
 
Ken,

One of the greatest injustices of life is the difference in lifespan of dogs and humans. And when illness or injury takes them even sooner we grieve for years.

The blessing is that dogs have no sense of their own mortality. Like you, I do my best to make sure every day begins and ends with a wag. In the end that's the most loving gift of all.

Pete, with Barley, Tullamore and Kazoo
(And those buried in our family graveyard but who live on in my heart: Mercedes, April, Cosette, Killian Red, Tetley, Tuppence, Molson, Tadcaster, and Glenfiddich: Prince of Dogs)
 
Sorry to hear of your loss, Ken. It's good that he didn't suffer.

I'm still grieving the loss of my female Beagle, Goof, who died almost a year ago. She was my first dog. We had her for 13 years and we haven't replaced her yet.

Harry
 
Sorry to hear about Diesel.
Is it my eyes or is Tank actually a bit bigger than his Dad at 1 1/2 years old? Cool looking Pup.

mike wex
'96 r1100rt
 
Lots of dog lovers on this forum, and probably most have experienced the grief which comes from losing a good friend.

In my adult life I've owned four Labradour retrievers, one "sort of" Golden retriever, and currently a dog (now over 14 years old) of questionable parentage. (Pregnant mother, half the size of most of her litter as adults, was dropped out in the country and taken in by friends. We helped look after the litter and took one of the male pups. Named him Chance - which is exactly what we were taking.) Turned out to be a great dog. Though now deaf as a post, he is still a loveable character.

My only advice is: don't expect Tank to be a duplicate of Diesel, even though he is his son. All my dogs have definitely had very individual personalities. With one exception, we've loved all of them. I suppose the exception is the most interesting. Mocha (a yellow lab of show breeding - dumb me, I'm a hunter) certainly loved to retrieve SOMETIMES. But when she didn't feel like it - no way. When she absolutely refused to retrieve a dead mallard in a little creek where the dog could stand but I would sink into the soft mud up to my waist, made the decision to sell her back to the breeder after a year of misery. At the time we had both rabbits and chickens, with extension cords running out to lights in both the rabbitry and chicken pen from the house. I became quite expert at rewiring the house plugs. Mocha would lie on the decks and amuse herself by chewing through the power cords!

The only living creature who ever missed THAT dog was the Golden retriever also living with us at the time. She saw Mocha shipped off and wouldn't even look at us for a month. Of course, she didn't have to rewire all those plugs or clean up the dog crap in the livingroom after Mocha ate two dozen chocolate chip cookies off the kitchen counter.

I wish you and Tank a long and happy life together.
 
Thanks again for the words of support. The extended BMW family is a great group of people!

I drove Diesel to the University in Columbia Missouri for an autopsy Friday evening (having left within 1 hour of his passing) for two reasons; One to satisfy personal curiosity as to what happened, but equally as important to be sure that the cause is not genetic. There are 4 of his pups who are currently in the show ring working toward their championship including Tank.
Since he was 9 1/2 years old I don't feel there is great likelihood that it was genetic, but I want to be sure. If in fact it is genetic I certainly want to advise the owners not to breed them.

Hank, yes Tank is larger than Diesel, it's not your eyes-Rest easy! lol He's still a "gangly adolescent" and has not filled out yet however.

As I write this, there is a large hole beside my chair at the desk where Diesel used to lay. I can tell that Tank also is wondering where Diesel is. I took a pretty good ride yesterday to Bentonville BMW then on to the Blitz with our local club.
It was pretty therapeutic, and it gave me time to reflect which helped a lot. It was a great ride through "springtime in the Ozarks".

Thanks again for the words of encouragement!

Ken
 
So sorry for your loss..the pain will pass.

Beautiful dog. Glad he did not suffer. May he rest in peace.
 
As an update for those who are curious Diesel had two large tumors, one on his heart, and one on his spleen. One of them ruptured (though they could'nt tell which one due to the large amount of blood internally) which caused him to bleed out rapidly. So it is good to know that he didn't suffer, and that it is not a genetic problem.
Thanks again for the overwhelming support. It's good to have the MOA family.

Ken
 
Ken:

Sorry you lost your old friend. We've had many a good dog 'Go West" over the years. We take consolation that eventually we'll meet up with all of them again!
 
We are on the same page with that thought!

Diesel's son is doing a wonderful job of filling the gap he left!

Ken
 
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