Critter Crazy - What a handsome boy! He's very proud of himself, I can see.
Many years ago I owned a hound and shepherd cross that was just the best dog anyone could ask for. She had the best qualities of both and the bad qualities of neither. Not only that, but every spring when the baby chicks arrived, she would mother them better than any hen.
Currently I have an old beagle crossed with some other type of hound (anyone's guess...). She's unusually colored - she's white with golden - someone said that color is called lemon in beagles. Anyway, I brought her home from the shelter two years ago and she has been no end of expense and trouble!
Luckily for her she has an endearing personality!
First, a mere two months after I got her, she collapsed out of the blue in the middle of a tremendous thunderstorm. My vet was out on a farm call, and the power had gone out all over the valley, so her assistant was trying to examine my practically comatose dog by flashlight. I ended up taking her to the emergency clinic that is over 50 miles away, where they found a tumour the size of a grapefruit on her spleen, which had just ruptured. The prognosis was very poor due to her age, but she came through with flying colors!
Sadly, last September she was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which is not curable. She had an initial surgery to scrape the wall of her bladder, and now she is on medication to slow the cancer's growth. Despite it all, my little trooper just keeps happily going about her life. The initial prognosis for dogs with this diagnosis is as short as a week to as long as two years - obviously we are hoping for the latter!