Oreo passed away on January 10th 2008. It’s been almost a month and I miss her terribly. I have tried my best to recount many details and important events in her life. Oreo’s motto was “Every day is a good happy day”! She enjoyed life and just by being a part of her daily activities I was reminded to smile and enjoy my life too. There is a tremendous hole in my heart and life that I just can’t seem to fill.

I think part of the reason it’s been so hard is that she was still young, relatively healthy, and we tried so hard to help her. We knew that she had that one “issue” but that probably brought us closer to her - more connected somehow. On one level we knew it was just a matter of time but on another she seemed to be responding better than expected.

I hope her story makes you cry but mostly makes you smile. Oreo would want us happy. I’m trying — I just can’t seem to get over the hump.

Steve went on a business trip to Florida one summer. The kids and I had gone shopping at a nearby town - Watonga. At that time we had Katie, Storm, and Lucky - all black and white dogs. We hadn’t really “picked” any of them. Katie was one of a litter of pups abandoned on the side of a country road. One of Steve’s students ask us if we wanted her - he was a college student at the time. Gordon and his girlfriend had tried to keep her in a college dorm room and that wasn’t working very well.  They had had Katie about one week before he give her to us.

It just happened to be Kayla’s 10th birthday so Steve thought the puppy would make a perfect birthday present. I was as happy as Kayla to meet the new addition to our family. At the time Katie weighed only 4 pounds (and that was after spending a week with the girls at the college). Can you imagine dumping off a litter of puppies on the side of a road? How mean is that!! Katie always has had a weird thing with food - to this day I blame it on being so hungry at such a young age.

Storm was found a few months later by Steve - once again in the middle of the country. He was in such bad shape - so skinny and covered with ticks. Steve checked with all of the farmhouses in the area - no one had ever seen him before. It was amazing that he was still alive. Read about Storm under “Meet Our Pack”. Again a black and white dog.

Katie had eight puppies with a black lab a few years later - EIGHT! They were all colors - brown, black, white with various shades of each color. We gave them all away to good homes but decided to keep the last one and name her Lucky (because she got to stay). And it so happened that she was a black and white dog.

About a year later, Kayla, Chad, and I are at the store and someone is giving away PUPPIES outside the store! There is only one left - black and white! She is beautifu! She had black spots surrounded by white (just like Katie and Storm) with large patches of black (just like Katie and Lucky). I told the kids that if she was still there after we finished shopping we’ll take her home. This was so out of character for me but it just felt right.

She was still there and we named her Oreo - like the cookie. All the dogs loved her — even Storm and that was a big deal, usually Storm hated other dogs. Lucky and Oreo were the closest in age and they played constantly for months. So much that even years later Oreo’s ears had rough hard spots in them from the playing. Lucky never hurt her she just chewed on her ears.

When Oreo got bigger, she quickly learned to jump fences. She was impossible to keep contained. She never bothered anyone or anything though so we just let her be a feel spirit - coming and going whenever she wanted. Oreo was kind and quiet and shy and curious and busy and ornery and smiling - all the time.

Here’s a picture of Oreo on one side of the fence and Katie, Lucky, and Storm waiting for her to jump back over on the other side of the fence.The top picture is Oreo hunting and checking things out. She would have liked that picture!

Oreo was generally too busy to sleep inside at night. Only a few times when she felt badly or we were trying to contain her for some reason. First thing every morning she would sit by the front door waiting to be let in. She figured out that by jumping the fence and waiting by the front door got her in faster than the other dogs in the backyard. The minute she got inside she sniffed around the kitchen real quick for any possible food then she would greet everybody in the house. If you happen to be still in bed, she didn’t mind jumping up and snuggling for a while.

I normally go to bed before Steve so Oreo would come to sleep on Steve’s pillow until it was time to go outside. I loved that. She looked so satisfied and peaceful and comfortable. Her hair was so soft - almost like a rabbit.

Oreo would stretch out to rest just like the other dogs. But as she got more comfortable, she would move to her back, laying with her legs in the air, head cocked to one side in the perfect position. She loved to sleep in that position. We spent many an evening just watching Oreo sleep. In this picture, she spots us trying to get the picture.

Oreo loved adventure - she was always jumping a fence checking everything out. When we got her, we lived in country town Fay. Even then we had a huge fenced backyard but it wasn’t big enough for Oreo. That’s when she started jumping fences. We lived in such a remote area and she always stayed close never bothering anyone. She checked out the fields and woods around the house.

Then we moved to our 20 acres close to a highway. Again we had a backyard for the dogs and started fencing in 10 acres around the house with cattle panels. Steve thought I was crazy at the time - but I wanted all the dogs to be able to run and play on those 10 acres. It would be our “yard” and if I was going to be out there working then I wanted them out there too. It would take a few months for us to complete the fence -it would be lots of expense and work.

In the meantime, we tried an electric dog fence with some success. Oreo and Storm would hunt - well Oreo would hunt and Storm would follow along. They loved it! Even after Storm was old and had arthritis, he would follow her out and they would be gone for hours. Many a time Oreo would come back alone and Steve would have to go look for Storm. Steve always found him dragging back, headed home totally worn out. They were quite a pair. Oreo was worn out in this picture after a hunting trip - Time for a nap!

Our daughter Kayla found Bodie while attending college in Weatherford. She called to beg us to take him because she lived in an apartment. “He looked just like Katie. He is black and white like the rest of them, … please” When Kayla brought him home, I fell in love with him. He was perfect. And the other dogs loved him from the first moment too. Oreo had a new toy - they played for hours at a time. As time passed, Bodie become her best next hunting buddy. But once again it was clear that Oreo was the true hunter. Bodie had just figured out that Oreo made things happen. If you followed her around for a little bit, there would be excitement shortly - whether it was a rabbit running through the woods, a rabbit trapped in a old pipe, a rabbit hiding under a water drain or a pile of old lumber, etc. She could track them - running circles through the grass and trees until finding the trail and off she would go with her hunting partner behind following along. Yes Oreo was a rabbit hunter - and rats too! Oreo could smell a rat with such accurately that if she indicated something was hiding in a box, pile, dresser, leaves, pipe, - whatever, it was there and she was not leaving until she caught it!

Oreo was always looking for the next adventure. We live in the country but have a neighbor across the road. Both houses sit back into trees so we never really see each other except when we met coming or going. Our place is cattle paneled with a big gate which stays closed if any of the dogs are out of the backyard. But if I have said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times - Oreo climbs fences! So sometimes when the main gate is open, Oreo would be checking things out. Usually she still stayed inside the cattle panels but if something was happening outside the fence she would check it out.

The man across the road has goats and added a couple of those BIG white dogs to watch over them. I know what you are thinking but Oreo never messed with the goats - or the chickens just a little ways down the road. But those big white dogs liked to come over inside our yard if the gate was open to check things out. Oreo would stay on the porch and bark if she was out by herself, but if I was out or came out to see what was going on - I gave her POWER. She would chase those dogs out of our yard and through the gate sending them home. One particular day one of the dogs came over and of course when I went outside, Oreo started chasing the dog. She was serious - running as fast as she could and charging that dog - acting like she was the biggest meanest dog around. That big dog was at least twice her size and running for it’s life! She chased it right out of the yard, through the fence, and into the neighbor’s driveway. I stopped watching by the main gate. They were moving! I was proud of her - protecting our home and all!

All the sudden that dog turned on Oreo and started chasing her. Oreo immediately stopped - shocked - turned tail and started sprinting back inside the gate. I could see the concern on her face. That never happened before and she was not prepared to be chased. I stood with the gate in my hands only holding it open enough for Oreo to run through. After she went through, I closed it quickly yelling at that big white dog.

Oreo and I looked at each other, I was telling her how brave she was and she was eating it up. Tail wagging - excited - ready to try it again. Many times we had experiences with those big white dogs. Something about me being around seemed to make her brave. I was never sure whether she thought that I was protecting her or she was protecting me. Probably - she just liked to have someone around to share the experience with.

I think that was true with the hunting trips that she would take with Storm and then Bodie. She liked having a buddy. We watched her coax one of them many times to go with her. Sometimes she would jump the fence and stand there waiting as if to say “Well come on”. It was all about the chase. Oreo was an adrenalin junkie! Luckily after the fence was finished and the rest of the dogs couldn’t get out, Oreo stayed and hunted inside the fence so she could have a buddy with her.

Oreo lived for the next hunt - the smells, the tracking, the chase, the catch, … but one of the other dogs usually ate it. And that was o.k. because she was on to the next excitement. We have 10 acres cattle paneled around our house so its very secure for the dogs to run around in - well Oreo climbs fences but she usually wouldn’t go by herself. So as long as the others couldn’t get out, Oreo stayed close. Our land runs along a pretty busy highway with an old house close by. It was Steve’s grandparent’s house and it is pretty rundown. Somehow the door keeps opening - very strange because we hardly ever go down there and its inside the fence so no one else should be there either (but that’s another story - very spooky!). This early evening the dogs were at the old house barking and after walking the trail we decided to check it out. As we got closer, the door was opened and Steve closed it. But some dogs were still barking - after walking around the house, we figured out that Bodie and Oreo were under the house. The other three were going crazy trying to figure out how to get under the house with them. It was starting to get dark and the fighting under the house was getting louder and more serious. We put the other three dogs into the backyard which got them away so we could figure out how to get Bodie and Oreo out without being hurt from whatever they were fighting with.

We called - we yelled! We went into the house to see if …. I don’t know … to see if we could help from there somehow. Inside the house, the fighting barking - growling - snarling was so loud and blood curling that I couldn’t stay in there and started to go back outside. All the sudden the commotion started moving to the hole and I ran toward the back door with Steve behind me. I ran out the door and headed for the crawl hole under the house. I was almost there but had to slow down to crawl over the top of a ceiler. Just as I made it - bent down crawling over - out of the corner of eye, I caught a glimpse of a shadow moving quickly and headed in my direction. I knew to wasn’t one of the dogs and only a second later Oreo made out of the hole then Bodie. I backed off the ceiler as fast as I could as the animal - a raccoon jumped up to face me. Our faces were within one foot each other. We made eye contact! Me trying to back off quickly and that raccoon trying to get away from the dogs. Both of us panicked. I ran into Steve trying to get away - later he said my eyes were as big as saucers and that raccoon was the size of a small bear. The raccoon ended up on the house via the ceiler. Oreo watched it for a short period. Bodie never knew where it went. We checked on it later and it was gone never to be seen again. Neither dog was hurt.

Oreo loves her pack. Except for Red — do you see the color scheme going on here. The names and ages when the picture was taken in the summer of 2007.

Red - 13 years

Bodie - 2 years

Oreo - 8.5 years

Lucky (behind Red) - 9.5 years

Katie (all the way to the back because being to close to the “dogs” really cramps her style. She thinks she’s human.) - 13 years

Here’s another picture with me and the 5 of them together - it’s not the easiest thing to do! Everyone doesn’t smile and say cheese at the same time!

Oreo was diagnosed with cancer January 2007. She had a tumor between her shoulders near her windpipe. Since she was not very old (less than 8 years) our vet suspected cancer. It had grown fast and quite large quickly and the surgery to remove it was preformed within the next couple of days. Since the tumor was close to her windpipe, the vet could not get the entire tumor. He got as much as he could without negatively affecting her physically – he hoped. The conclusion: Oreo had a mast cell tumor grade 3 and was given a 40 percent chance of survival for 4 years. We were devastated!

I picked up Oreo from the vet a day after the surgery. On the way home from vet trips, we always stopped to get chicken strips. It’s about an hour long trip both ways and all the dogs like to ride in the car. It was a tradition to end the trips with a stop at a small quick shop for a chicken snack to end the trip on a good note. Oreo loved her chicken strips!

My instructions: keep her quiet and calm for the next few days so recover and not pull out the 4 to 5 inches stitches in her chest. “OK I can do that” – I helped her in & out of the car. Got her home and was sure that she needed to “do her business” which she will NOT do on a leash but ok I let her off and Oreo slowly but promptly peed and pooped. Perfect – right until she turned, looked at me, then sprinted to the backyard and jumped over the 4 foot fence to say hello to her buddies! I was in shock! To make a long story short – they obviously didn’t cut anything too important and she didn’t hurt the stitches. She moved pretty slowly for the next few days recovering from the surgery but healed well with the only negative from the surgery is she didn’t really care to bark or howl anymore. She still would on occasion but would stop and shake her head like it didn’t feel right. We checked her regularly for any signs of growth of more tumors. She returned to the active happy hunting dog quickly. She returned to the vet for annual shots in late summer – no sign of tumor growth! Life is good!

In October 2007, the tumor returned and we immediately took her back to the vet. Surgery was performed that afternoon. The recovery was about the same EXCEPT I put her with the rest of the dogs to “do her business” therefore she didn’t jump any fences for a few days. (I was proud of myself!) The results from the lab: Oreo’s cancer was now grade 4 and spread to her lymph nodes – 40% chance of survival for 100 days! DAYS! To say we were devastated is an understatement – shocked! We wanted the 4 years back – that didn’t seem so bad now. They prescribed Prednisone to slow it down. The odds were good that it would spread to another part of her body.

Oreo recovered from the second surgery well. Back to jumping fences, hunting rabbits, and loving life. The Prednisone helped her feel good – with side affects of weight gain, increased thirst, obsession with food (which she loved her food before but now anything left out she assumed was hers – a sandwich on the counter, butter on the table, Carter’s hotdog, …) She wasn’t mean about it – she just assumed that you left it out for her. Many times we would walk into a room and she would come licking her lips and wagging her tail obviously saying “Thank you”! But when she started jumping the fence to go to the highway for roadkill we got worried and started feeding her more.

Oreo continued doing the things she loved for the next three months. 99% of the time, she felt good. January 9 and 10^th Oreo seemed really tired and was not eating well. I fixed her food with salmon juice the morning of the 10^th and she ate it right up. About 2:00 p.m. she collapsed and wouldn’t get up. We rushed to the vet about an hour away. Oreo’s spleen had ruptured and needed to be removed for any chance of survival. Steve and I got to stay with her while they prepped her for surgery. She was awake and calm. We talked and petted her the entire time. We didn’t leave until she was asleep. Surgery lasted a little more than one hour then they called us in. Oreo had done well until the end and then just wasn’t strong enough to make it. The Dr. removed the spleen and was almost finished but … she didn’t make it.

The cancer had spread to her spleen and caused it to rupture.

We brought Oreo home and buried her next to her old hunting buddy Storm. She will be missed more than I can say. My heart is broken.

Our house feels so empty. Even with the other dogs, we seem to be missing about three. Oreo was such a huge part of our lives. She was always busy – always into everything – always moving – always stirring up the other dogs. Everywhere we look, she should be there, she was always there, and now she’s not. Every morning she would be waiting on the front porch to be let in the house. If anyone was still in bed, she would not hesitate to jump up with them and her happy self would wish them a good morning. She had the strongest loudest tail! It would swing so wildly and hit up against things and make so much noise. I think that’s what I miss most – Oreo’s happy spirit!

After our greeting first thing in the morning and all the dogs got up and around, it was time for breakfast. She would check out the kitchen immediately to see if anything was “available”! Next an early morning check of the 10 acres to see if any rabbits were out and about. She was the REAL hunter so now the dogs will sometimes stand around just looking for her. It was normal for her to be out sniffing through the trees out of sight – if she stirred something up, she barked and lead the way. The rest of the pack would be on the way to help out. I don’t remember them ever having a real rabbit hunt that Oreo didn’t start it up.

Next – Naptime. The five of them would come into the house and sleep for a couple hours. They got along so well. Oreo would usually be the one to wake the others and want to go check things outside. They would come in and out throughout the day – many times Oreo took longer outside than the rest. We have spent many times hollering “Oreo” on the porch waiting for her to come in. She loved being outside on the go – kind of a restless happy ornery spirit. She hardly ever just walked. It was kind of a trot from place to place stirring up whatever she could find.

When we went to town, we would have to make sure to take great care to close the gate or leave her in the house. Just putting her with the rest of the dogs didn’t work because she would jump the fence to check things out.

At night while we watched tv, all the dogs sleep. Five dogs in the house, most people would think “oh my god” but it was usually calm. Oreo loved to stretch out on her back - her front legs in the air – her back legs spread eagle relaxed - her head cocked back just in the right position – AND SLEEP! I found it very comforting – peaceful and we always got a little chuckle.

Many times I go to bed earlier than Steve. Katie, Bodie, and Oreo would follow me. Katie usually crawled under the bed, Bodie usually crawled into Katie’s dog bed but Oreo loved sleeping on Steve’s pillow. She would lay with her head on the pillow and all stretched out on her back with those legs in the air just like she belonged there. As soon as Steve yelled for them, Bodie and Oreo would jump up and go outside for the night.

As you can see our days started and ended with Oreo. Now we find ourselves lost. As I sit here typing, I have four dogs sleeping on the floor around me – Red, Katie, Lucky, and Bodie. I love them all … so why does it seem so lonely without Oreo. Oreo was only 9 years old.

I try to find comfort that she is with God and he will take good care of her. Oreo (in her healthiest body) and Storm (in his young body) have been reunited and are rabbit hunting. I picture them both lying on God’s front porch doing the same things that they did here. So I have just sort of loaned her out to someone who can make her well. Oreo’s bouncy active happy self will certainly put a smile on his face for a long time and I will see them again soon.