Joe and I got Willy in May of 1992 from the pound
when he was 4 years old.
He was on his second to last day there due to be put to sleep
the next day. He was a 75 lb. black lab mix that barked and
growled when we saw him in his cage.
He sounded like he wanted to rip your head off!
Joe said “that’s the dog I want.”
The attendant took Willy out of his cage and said we could walk
him and see if this was really the dog we wanted.
We got him outside and boy was he a powerful dog.
He ended up walking us!
We decided we would take him. He had not been neutered
so we decided to have that done plus he had an eye
condition called Atropia that would eventually cause him
to go blind so we decided to get that taken care of too.
We had a great vet Hannah who really loves animals and
she helped us out when the first operation on his eyes didn’t work.
So Willy came home with a “lampshade” on his head and we barely
knew this dog or his habits but he seemed to adapt to us
and his situation very well.
We had hardly had him a week when our friend Chris came
over to visit. He didn’t know that we had gotten a dog
and we weren’t home so when he attempted to enter our house,
(we kept it unlocked because we lived in rural upstate NY),
he was forcefully backed out by Willy.
What a great watch dog!
Willy proved to be reliable in all kinds of situations.
He eventually moved with us to New Mexico and we continued
to have great adventures with him.
He was always there for me when I was feeling sad.
I knew that I could hug and hold onto his big black neck
and that he would sit there as long as I needed him to.
His eyes had kind of a hound-dog look to them after the
operations,so he would look kind of sad also.
He was a wonderful dog.
He loved to “go for a ride in the car” and would stick his head
out the window with his ears flapping in the wind.
Before Joe and I left the Adirondacks we went on alot of hiking
and camping trips.
Willy was a great companion and would carry his own food
in his doggy saddlebags. He would go anywhere we went,
but always had a hard time with water.
I believe that he was abused as a puppy perhaps with a hose
or by being repeatedly thrown into water because he hated to swim .
We thought he was the only Lab in the world who didn’t
retrieve or swim. So when we came to a body of water that had
to be crossed Joe and I would start across and Willy would
stand on the land barking his head off.
We would get to the other side and call him and whistle
and Willy would overcome his fear in order to be with us.
He was very loyal.
Willy developed a small lump near his right shoulder that
stayed the same size for years.
Then about 6 months ago it suddenly grew to the size of
an apple and became infected.
We treated it with antibiotics and pain meds.
It seemed to get better but then about a month ago it got to
be the size of a grapefruit and was open and bleeding
and would not heal.
We consulted with our vet and because he was 14 years old
we opted not to have surgery because the anesthesia might kill
him on the operating table.
We believe that it was cancer although we never had tests done
because it grew so fast and wouldn’t heal.
Our decision to put Willy to sleep was very difficult and tho
it has been a week today the pain is still very fresh and
comes in tides of sadness and emptiness.
Just writing this has been very hard for us.
But I’m glad that this web site is out there for people to put down
there thoughts and feelings on.
We will always remember Willy with alot of love and kindness.
He was truly a noble beast and man’s and
woman’s best friend.
We will miss him always.
Joe and Amy
| Willy |
| Joe & Amy |