Another beautiful Boxer lady went to the bridge today: ProC’s Queen of Diamonds, Dusty, lost her 9 month long battle with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) when her kidneys finally failed her over this past weekend. Last August, I was stunned to have an emergency Vet tell me "Your Boxer bitch’s kidneys are probably only functioning about 40% of normal." Why was this so stunning, because my former Vet of many years, who I had entrusted her care to, had treated her on and off for a period of almost 2 1/2 years for urinary tract infections, but when the facts were known ­all during that period of time that I trusted this guy to treat the beautiful mother of my two home grown CHs, and hopefully, soon to be third home grown CH, never once did he ever check the blood chemistry to see how her kidneys were functioning……!!!

Dusty was a trooper throughout her siege with the horrible disease that finally claimed her life. Shots, pills, IVs and more pills, but she never quarreled with having to take any of it “…down but never out...” was the way I often described her right up to the very end, when finally there were just to many things going wrong -- to get right.

She was my girl; my traveling companion; my shopping companion; and my mail and newspaper pickup girl, and sometimes almost my shadow. She was the prettiest Boxer that I ever raised and second smartest to my CH Jubar’s Beautiful Princess GiGi (GiGi). Although early on in her life, in January of 2006, this pretty bitch was destined for the show ring, but God threw her a ringer at 6 1/2 weeks old, when a Vet removed an encapsulated sac of infection from her front left shoulder, and 6 hours later she was totally paralyzed in her rear legs and hips ­ and no one has ever been able to make the connection between the two events. No one thought she would ever walk, but she did. I never thought I would be able to breed her, but she was cleared for puppies by the medical experts at NCS, and in her first litter she produced my two home grown Champion boys: Ace2 & Deuce, plus six other beautiful puppies. In her subsequent two litters, she produced ProC’s Lady Duchess Dawn, Duchess, who only needs one major to finish her championship. She was a wonderful mother to her puppies and she was often described as “Ms. Clean-nic” when it came to her puppies.

Go beautiful Dusty ­ go with the wind: you are finally free of all the daily pill routines; frequent IVs and shots; free from the pain and the ugly effects of the terrible disease that raked your body for probably much longer than I really ever realized ­ you will be missed, but never forgotten, my beautiful girl.