As background for those of you (most of you) who don't know his
story, Tahoe was a beautiful male German Shepherd Dog who came into
my GSD rescue last December as a stray.  He was such a wonderful,
mild mannered, well behaved young boy that I began grooming him for
eventual work as a service dog.  I was hoping that one of the Guide
Dog or Service Dog schools would accept him as a trainee.  For the
past 4 months he has gone just about everywhere with me in his role
as a guide dog puppy in training.  We were going to do final x-rays
on his hips, elbows and spine this month in preparation for his
being evaluated for potential service dog work.  He was
approximately 14 months old.

What follows are two posts about Tahoe and his sudden, tragic death.
I was receiving a new little guide dog puppy on Tuesday, the day 
Tahoe died.  Due to Tahoe's death, the puppy has been staying with 
other puppyraisers while we waited for necropsy results to be sure 
that there was no danger to the puppy in going to my house.  He's now 
cleared to go home with me.

first post:


3:30 am, Tuesday, April 30th.


I can't begin to find words to tell you how horrified I am to 
be writing this post.

Tahoe died about a half hour ago.  I was sleeping and something woke
me/Patch up and Patch got up and jumped off the bed (Detroit had
done so earlier.)  As he did, I heard this gasping/whimpering sound,
a couple of times.  It sounded sort of like the whimpering dreaming 
doggie sounds you hear when they snort and whuffle when they dream, 
but not quite right.  When it didn't repeat again in a few seconds I
felt for Tahoe and said his name (he was at the foot of the bed on 
the floor on tie-down) and when he didn't respond I turned on the
light and he was gone.

I tried mouth to snout and chest compressions, but it didn't work.
He hadn't vomited, or if he did it was clear bile-ish stuff, there
was some urine but...if it was poison he would have been sick first,
right?  He was fine and happy before bed, they all ate some kibble
that was spilled on the floor and no-one else is sick.

About two-three weeks ago one morning, walking in to school from the 
car, we crossed the street and just as I got to the curb I felt
tension on the leash and turned around just as Tahoe collapsed.  He
fell to his chest then his side and lay there like he was stunned
for maybe 10-15 seconds.  Then he rolled back to his chest, got his 
legs under him, stood up, took a few steps, then "shook it off" and 
practically dragged me across the parking lot and into the building,
and has seemed fine since.  I called the vet then and they said 
that it could have just been a fluke thing, wasn't likely to be 
blood sugar or anything like that or he wouldn't have recovered so 
fast.  Now I have to wonder if it was related somehow, that he had 
epilepsy or a heart defect or something....

I can't believe this is happening.  Why is he dead??  What happend
to him that in four hours he went from a happy, healthy adolescent
to dying?

My heart is broken.  Rest in peace, my sweet boy.  I barely had the 
chance to know you in this life, so I hope that we will have time 
together again someday. You left me much too soon.

Tahoe 
born ~ 2-28-01 
died   4-30-02

You can see pictures of Tahoe at:
http://cc.usu.edu/~nancyr/tahoe.html

Second post:

Well, the final path report is in. Ain't gonna be no more, he's
being cremated as we speak....

He died of Terminal Cardiovascular Collapse. The pathologist said
that there was absolutely no sign of anything abnormal in any
tissues, including minute examination of the brain and tissues of
the heart. There was probably some type of irregularity in the
heart function that could only be detected anti-mortem with an 
EKG.

All of his lymph nodes everywhere in his body, including his tonsils
were extremely swollen, indicating that he was probably exposed to
*something* about 10-14 or more days ago (would coincide with his
initial collapse which was 13 days before he died) and he basically
looks like a dog that was in anaphalaxis/anaphalactic shock, but no
known cause. No signs of a spider bite, no signs of external trauma
(bruising to the chest, etc.) He could have been exposed to
something then re-exposed the night he died. Blood was pooled in
his liver and lungs, his spleen looked like it has been squeezed
dry, but there was no joint or body cavity hemorraging that would
indicate something like a rodenticide. He examined the stomach
contents and found only kibble, nothing that didn't belong there. 
It wasn't strychnine, lead, mercury... There was pulmonary edema,
but NO signs of poison, no necrosis of any body tissues. He said it
was absolutely NOT parvo, lepto, distemper, hepatitis, canine
influenze, or any infectious agent he could detect. The pathologist
had absolutely NO concerns about my taking Lombard to my house.

I called GDB and spoke to Dr. Dietrich who concurred and released me
to take Lombard home.

I should be able to pick Tahoe's cremains up Monday, and he'll join
Chynna in watching over the house. I guess it's time for me to
actually get an urn or something for her, she's been sitting in the 
plastic container they gave her back to me in since September,
although I did buy a ceramic vase of sorts and the plastic is
sitting in that (no lid, though.) I'm thinking simple wood, maybe
with a picture mount on the front, or engraved with her picture. 
Tahoe will get one of his own, too. 

It has been (and continues to be) a pretty hellacious week, but I
have faith time (and Detroit, Patch, and Lombard) will help me to
heal.


Nancy, Detroit, Patch and Lombard
desparately missing Tahoe