Wanda

ALL:

Wanda passed on Monday May 20, 2024 just after 1:00a. Her condition had been deteriorating for only around 24 hours, and while I held out hope that she could bounce back again, I of course also knew all of Sunday what might well be coming, given the diagnosis. As she was taking her last breaths I stroked her head and assured her that she was a good Dog, and that it was “OK” to go.

I took her body to my Mother’s home, the house I “grew up” in, and buried her in the backyard, where she shares the ground with a number of other Dogs going back to my childhood, along with hundreds of Cats, Birds, Salamanders, Lizards, Fish, and a Turtle. It is my Family’s tradition to bury the Animals, especially our Dogs, in the backyard, and this has been done in almost every case. This is also the same backyard where we had sometimes played fetch, as well as launched some epic canoe-trips since my boat is stored there. Our last walk together was me taking her to the backyard, and the last thing I got to do for her was dig the hole; quite difficult in the heat and with poorly-controlled blood-sugar without her alerts; and I was honored to do it.

Wanda’s last “good day” was on the preceding Saturday, when we went to teach class in the park, as we had hundreds of times. I had been instructed by Lion’s Foundation Veterinarian to maintain her routine; except without our usual vigorous playtimes, and with the addition of lots of spoiling, which I promise tried my best to do. She was remarkably energetic and enthusiastic, with a good appetite and etc. She had been this way since her diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma at Easter, of all “resurrectionist” times. And she did indeed do alerts that day. 1 thing I’d really like everyone to know is that Wanda helped me, and literally “worked right up until her last day”. I should probably find this “inspiring”, but mostly it makes me feel inadequate.

Please forward this message to anyone who knew Wanda…I am truly grateful to ALL of the people who had a part in getting Wanda and I together; or in training her to help me, and feeding and caring for her when she was young and when she got sick. But mostly I am grateful to Wanda. When I 1st met Wanda at the Lion’s Foundation, I told her that she and I were going to be a “Pack”, and we really were. Teaching classes, hiking, snowshoeing, canoeing, camping on the Bruce Peninsula at all times of the year. So many adventures and battles and playtimes and cuddles. Definitely more blood-sugar alerts than Dog treats to reward them. Thank-you Wanda, good Dog. Good “Pack”.

Wanda; wait…

-Daniel Santolini