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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Two months and one day after loosing Freckles, I have not only a broken heart, now I have one that’s shattered. We had to put Jasper down last night.<br>He had a routine vet visit in the afternoon and just<br>wasn’t right since. At first we thought he was having a<br>reaction to the vaccinations. We took him back to our vet and he<br>was worked on to reverse the reaction and to treat the shock. He<br>seemed to perk up so we took him home. Our vet called us a little<br>over an hour later to check how he was doing. Since his gums were<br>still white, he recommended we take him to the emergency clinic.<br><br>He wasn’t reacting to any vaccination. It was just<br>coincidental (although the stress could have brought on the<br>inevitable). Jasper had a tumor on his spleen that had ruptured.<br>At just about 12 years old, with calcified lungs and a heart<br>murmur, surgery really wasn’t an option.<br><br>Jasper was our foster failure, our problem child. He was one of<br>the last, if not the last of the dog to come into BRoWNY. A<br>friend had told me of another friend who was trying to find a<br>home for their basset puppy. We picked him up with all the<br>intentions of keeping him “just a few days”. A few<br>days turned into almost 12 years. He was a mess—too skinny<br>and crushed rib cage from either too much crating or poor<br>nutrition—probably both. Jasper was a handful. I kept<br>counting the birthdays saying “this will be the year he<br>settles down”. I quit saying that about the 8th birthday!<br>Jasper absolutely hated other dogs outside of his own pack. I<br>believe, had he run into the wrong one, he would have fought to<br>the end. But to us he was just the sweetest boy. He let you play<br>with his ears and kiss him and love on him whenever you wanted<br>(opposite of Freckles).<br><br>I used to laugh that he was dumb as a box of rocks, but he taught<br>himself to ring the sleigh bells to let us know he wanted out (I<br>had them up as a Christmas decoration—never even attempted<br>to train any of them to ring bells). He got really good at it.<br>He’d ring the bells when the cat wanted in or out too. And<br>if you didn’t move fast enough, he rang them until he<br>nudged them right off the door.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The used to steal the spaghetti box out of the grocery bag and run to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Living room with it to open and pour out…all while we unknowingly<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Unpacked groceries in the other room. He counter surfed our recycles, just to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Be certainly they were thoroughly cleaned out. The day he grabbed the full pizza box <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Off the stove and ran to the living room was an absolute hoot. He kept<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Hitting the doorway and just couldn’t figure out how to get that pizza<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Out of the kitchen!<br><br>Jasper taught me patience. They all teach us unconditional love.<br>He taught me that some dogs just never get 100% trustworthy of<br>housetraining. And some will pee or poo out of spite because they<br>didn’t get to go for a car ride this time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Jasper was just the goofiest, happy-go-lucky boy there was.<br><br>This really sucks because not only are we houndless, this is the<br>first time in our home we’ve been dogless too. That<br>won’t last for long, I’m sure.<br><br>So, take a moment to give your hound a hug—especially the<br>problem child who won’t slow down. Appreciate them while<br>we have them and turn to each other when we don’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Kathy, Freckles ATB, Jasper ATB<br><br><br><br></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><FONT size=1 face=Verdana>
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