HRCH UH Ch Chocca-shaw Irish Blessing MH WCQ UWC, "Tule" - 3/11/2002-11/12/10
He was the dog that taught me how to be a retriever handler(still a work in progress though)....
The history behind his illness, 2 years ago we were faced with an
inoperable adrenal tumor running through his vena cava(major blood vessel)
from his kidney to his heart. He was so active and healthy right up until
we found it, we couldn’t give up. Thanks to Michigan State, he had a
pretty invasive surgery that was successful to remove his right kidney and
the part of the tumor that was causing him to have poor circulation, but
could not get the root of the tumor. Within 3 days after surgery, he was
home and ready to play again. Since we did the surgery to improve his
overall quality of life, we let him resume all the things he loved, upland
trials and hunting, retriever training and tests. But he got to do things
his way, never was really “made” to so anything he didn’t want to do. He
was such an amazing strong dog that loved to retrieve. The picture of him
on the cover of the HRC magazine was about a month after his surgery. Fortunately it was a slow growing tumor so he went 1 ½ years symptom and medication free. This spring he started having compromised circulation again, but we chose not to do surgery again. He had a vascular stent placed to bypass the obstruction and back he was playing again. It wasn’t until this last month that he started to look like he had cancer. We let him go when he couldn’t be strong any longer.
He was an amazing dog with a whole list of accomplishments. Before his surgery, he passed 13 Master tests, the Master National, and had two qual placements. He was a joy to run at tests, he was so experienced he would know where the next mark or blind “should” be if the judge knew what he/she was doing. Since his surgery, he passed 13 HRC finished tests, a master test, 6 HRC Upland tests, earned his competitive upland championship, walked me to the line at my first Grand, and stole many bumpers from the garage to end his daily walks. After surgery, every test and retrieve became quite emotional for us, I cried at a lot of hunt tests these past two years, sometimes even on the honor bucket sitting next to him.
Going to South Dakota without him was hard for us this year, but we
find comfort in knowing we gave him a good couch to sleep on and lots of
birds to retrieve. We feel so blessed to have had him for so much extra
time, but it is never long enough. He is already greatly missed. He represented the curly breed well.
He was the dog that taught me how to be a retriever handler(still a work in progress though)....
The history behind his illness, 2 years ago we were faced with an
inoperable adrenal tumor running through his vena cava(major blood vessel)
from his kidney to his heart. He was so active and healthy right up until
we found it, we couldn’t give up. Thanks to Michigan State, he had a
pretty invasive surgery that was successful to remove his right kidney and
the part of the tumor that was causing him to have poor circulation, but
could not get the root of the tumor. Within 3 days after surgery, he was
home and ready to play again. Since we did the surgery to improve his
overall quality of life, we let him resume all the things he loved, upland
trials and hunting, retriever training and tests. But he got to do things
his way, never was really “made” to so anything he didn’t want to do. He
was such an amazing strong dog that loved to retrieve. The picture of him
on the cover of the HRC magazine was about a month after his surgery. Fortunately it was a slow growing tumor so he went 1 ½ years symptom and medication free. This spring he started having compromised circulation again, but we chose not to do surgery again. He had a vascular stent placed to bypass the obstruction and back he was playing again. It wasn’t until this last month that he started to look like he had cancer. We let him go when he couldn’t be strong any longer.
He was an amazing dog with a whole list of accomplishments. Before his surgery, he passed 13 Master tests, the Master National, and had two qual placements. He was a joy to run at tests, he was so experienced he would know where the next mark or blind “should” be if the judge knew what he/she was doing. Since his surgery, he passed 13 HRC finished tests, a master test, 6 HRC Upland tests, earned his competitive upland championship, walked me to the line at my first Grand, and stole many bumpers from the garage to end his daily walks. After surgery, every test and retrieve became quite emotional for us, I cried at a lot of hunt tests these past two years, sometimes even on the honor bucket sitting next to him.
Going to South Dakota without him was hard for us this year, but we
find comfort in knowing we gave him a good couch to sleep on and lots of
birds to retrieve. We feel so blessed to have had him for so much extra
time, but it is never long enough. He is already greatly missed. He represented the curly breed well.
