Nook_memory

Nanook.........what a character she was. She was one of the first dogs taken in after Golden
Years opened in the fall of 2000. Seems her owner liked the newer dog they had just gotten
so they dumped Nook at a kill shelter. A short time after arriving she got a tad too carried
away with the "Malamute scoot" and tore the cruciate ligament on her left back leg. She
required ACL surgery and fortunately some funding had become available to us. When taking
x-rays we learned several things about Nook....sad things actually. She had been shot at
(buckshot showed up), she had probably been hit by a car (based on some poorly healed
bone) and she had ACL surgery on the other back leg at some point in her short life. She was
estimated to be between 2-4 years old in 2000. Naturally this surgery required a long period
of no activity other that potty runs. Nook was kept in Shirley's house and Nook proceeded to
adopt Shirley's husband John. She was officially adopted by Shirley & John just in time for
Christmas 2000.

Nanook had an incredible personality and boy was she opinionated! Never at a loss for words
that's for sure. She made sure visitors knew that they must come and pet HER first before
visiting any of the rescue dogs.

There was a bit of a scare as Nook started favoring her front leg. We learned she had early
stage nerve sheath cancer and it was caught before it spread too far. The vet got all of the
cancer and thankfully it never came back.

In July of 2002 we had an unexpected litter of puppies born to one of the rescue girls named
Nikki. All but one died and the survivor was hand raised by Shirley's daughter. Nook didn't
know what to make of that tiny little thing. Normally Nook was very dog aggressive but she
must have known this little puppy had a rough start in life, so Nook became the puppy's big
playground. Eventually the puppy found a new home and Nook had the house to herself again
(with the exception of several cats).

As Nook got older arthritis really set in especially in her hind legs and hips. She had her stiff
way of walking and it was pretty funny to see her making the rounds begging for food from
any visitor eating there. I (Carol) told Nook I knew she was not about to faint from starvation
so she wouldn't get anything from me.

As you can see in the "checken leg" picture this girl had some pretty bad hips. Looking down
on her when she'd be sleeping like this was pretty funny they way those legs rolled forward
like that. It was hard to believe she could be comfortable like that! In the winter she loved
laying out in the snow no matter how cold it was. In the spring and summer she had her
favorite lilac bush that she would lay under and snooze away.

Nook had been overweight and she started to lose a few pounds. We didn't think much of it.
Then she couldn't keep food down very well and lost a lot of weight. Eventually no food would
stay down, not even water. Shirley got her to the vet to see what was going on. Nook was
there several days and nothing turned up on blood or urine workups. After being on IV fluids
she did seem to improve a bit, but then took a turn for the worse. I (Carol) got up there (I'm
an hour away from Shirley's) so we could go up to the vet. X-rays were done that morning.
One look and we knew we would be saying goodbye to this very special girl. There was fluid
build up in her lungs and chest cavity and there was a large mass in her stomach...it was
cancer.......we went back to where Nook was staying and the poor girl tried so hard to stand
up..she thought we were taking her home. We got down on the floor with her and loved on
her for the last time. She went very peacefully to the Rainbow Bridge, her head in Shirley's
lap, where she was probably met by all of the Golden Years alumnai that got there before her.
She is now buried at Shirley's under a lilac bush. Godspeed Nanook and wear that silver
harness with pride dear girl............