Okay.  I'll be honest.  The dog you'll see on this page is NOT a Keeshond.  She's a Golden Retriever.  But, she was our second dog, purchased about eighteen months after we got Symba, and she was a real sweetheart.  She and Symba became best friends; they played together, slept together, ate together, chased each other, and were nearly inseperable.

When Symba died, Houska grieved as we did.  I know that I'm anthropomorphising here, but I truly believe that she knew Symba wasn't coming back.   She moped around the house, was listless, and just sat around, being the generally lovable lump that she always had been.  When we adopted Chessie, I'm not sure who was happier to have her in the house, us or Houska!

Houska put up with a number of fosters and new members to the pack, but she endured them all with gentleness and calm.  Chessie may have become our alpha bitch, but Houska was always the Queen Mum.

In January of 2000, just as Houska turned 10, we noticed a large lump on one of Houska's front elbows (I believe the vet called it a granuloma) with an equally large open sore.  Surgery was performed to close the wound and clean out the damaged tissue.  She seemed to be doing well at first, but, by early February, she was having trouble walking.  Her ability to walk continued to decrease as the week went on.   By Thursday, she couldn't walk at all and I took her in to the vet once again.   They drew blood and ran some tests; it would take a few days, though, for the results to come back.  In the mean time, they gave her a transfusion and that seemed to help her for a couple of days.  But, by Valentine's Day, Houska was doing poorly once again; she had a sudden seizure and died in front of the vet.

We learned later that day that Houska had a very rare form of canine leukemia; so rare, in fact, that the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine had never SEEN a case of it; they requested permission to perform an autopsy, and we agreed.  It was the only thing that made Houska's death make any sense for us.

Now, she and Symba are together at the Rainbow Bridge, and I suspect that they visit with Eileen's dad, Rudy, who loved them both very much.

This page last updated on 07 March 2001 by Jon Westcot.