What this journal is all about…

It started out as a place to log Ari’s health problems in the summer of 2009 as he struggled to walk. It seemed like the severity of his problem was directly related to the seizures he was having and there were times when I thought he had days left but a day or two later he would rally.

Then it expanded into a place to record his conversations with Marilyn and that’s when I decided to add photos and videos to pages.

It has since evolved into a site to record memories of our life together. Ari was my first competition dog and as such we struggled together to learn and grow. He was tough but very forgiving and was affectionately called by some a “butthead”. At one point I thought I wouldn’t be able to train him but with the help of many friends and trainers, we succeeded in achieving a PSA 1 title and participating in the PSA 2 level in 2006.

It was devastating when I almost lost in him in 2007 during an Addisonian Crisis. We then participated in his last trial on July 7, 2007.

He adjusted to retirement life better than even he thought he would and for 2 years happily ran and played in the yard.


Then in 2009, he started limping and losing the use of his rear legs. The diagnosis through process of elimination of other things was a brain tumor. He was having seizures and was now 10 years old so I chose to not put him through additional testing but rather to make him comfortable.

As I write this on August 16, 2009 (pay no attention to the date of the post on the front page.. that's my way of keeping this post first), he is walking on all four feet but very wobbly. His great attitude never waivers. He pulls himself outside to bark at Brita and Kobie running the fence line and watches over the yard from a favorite place where he can see everything that is going on.

The rest of the story will be recorded in future posts. When it is his time, he will tell me but as for right now… he needs to stay to take care of the girls!

The pictures below were taken today. I went outside and, of course, they all followed and the girls started running the fence line, Ari picked up his ball and joined the fun for just a few minutes before retiring to watch near Josephine’s sign.