You would have loved Ling Ling our Shar Pei. One of my speech students brought her to class one night and spoke about the breed. She was nine weeks old. By the time the class was over my student had a B- (not that great a speech) and I had a puppy.
When she was three she developed a massive tumor at the bottom of the stomach. The vet called to say he had good news and bad news. First she didn’t have cancer, but she would need surgury within 24 hours or she wouldn’t survive. Then he told me he really wasn’t equiped to do such an operation and I’d have to take her to Iowa State University to their veterinary hospital. They were the best.
I packed her into the car and grabbed an othernight bag and headed east to Ames, Iowa.
I’m like you. The accolades to that hospital are endless. They told me they would take very good care of her and then sent me back to Omaha. They told me she wouldn’t need to see me until she was well, but after the surgery they called me every four hours to note her progress.
When i was finally allowed to return to the hospital they took me into a room and showed me a film of the inside of her stomach. Absolutely fascinating.
Lingy lived another nine years, aabout three years longer than normal for the breed. i watched the decline and finally, one day knew I had to take her to the vet again–for the last time. She got out of the car, but as we walked toward the building, she collapsed. The staff came out with a stretcher and carried her into an exam room. The doctor came in and said,”You know she won’t be going home, but we will make it painless and she’ll just go to sleep.” After the shots, she was gone, but I wasn’t. The doctor said, “You stay here as long as you want so you can say goodbye.” and I did and then I went to the desk and made arrangements for her cremation.
Like you,I buried her under a peach tree I had brought when we moved from Omaha to Idaho a few years later.
The following spring that tree produced at least 5,000 peaches–far too many to can so I gave them away. It was my last act of love to Ling Ling and her last act of love to me.
Because my husband is an over-the-road trucker, I feel the need to have a dog in the house at all times and a few weeks later we found a purebred Scots Terrier than is the joy of my life. We now own a bed and breakfast and the minute a guest enters the house MacGregor is right there, flopped over on her back waiting to have her belly rubbed. You are so right, there is nothing in our lives like our dogs.
God bless you and keep you Mark, you are an great inspiration to those of us who believe in the Constitution and this country.

Dixielee from ID