The Loss of a Great Friend

Patches was a blue-tick hound dog by definition, but no words can describe her well enough. Her sweet long, velvet ears that she let me rub. Her beautiful twinkling eyes that would look at us with such a loving sparkle.

About nine and a half years ago, we made the decision to go to our local humane society. We had adopted there before and after the loss of our Kody, we knew that was where we would find the next dog. Sure enough, I found a beautiful blonde lab that we named Whitney, and Ronnie found Patches. He told me that I would fall in love as soon as I heard her "beautiful" voice. Well, her voice is what landed her there. A couple had adopted her and she developed her voice in town. They returned her to the humane society. So, they gave her to us for free, she was already spayed and had her shots and we were adopting the lab.

Patches immediately became part of the family, always happy to see us. Every time we pulled in the driveway, we heard that voice. It took a while before I agreed on the "beautiful" part, but it definitely grew on me.

We had been facing an awful dilemna regarding Patches's leg. She had been suffering from immobility and massive growth in a back leg for several months. We knew what had to be done eventually because it just wasn't fair to her. She ate, lost body mass, but the leg grew. Eventually, we chose to end the suffering.

We will remember her as a loving, faithful companion. She loved the kids and let them do anything to her. She was definitely one-of-a-kind!