Dodger

Bitterswt Artf’l Dodger, an American Cocker Spaniel was born on July 31, 2004. Dodger was a clown, my happy-go-lucky boy. He was ball crazy, insisting that I or anyone else who happened to be around play ball with him. He loved to play fetch and was very good at it. He would place his ball beside you and then dance and inform you in no uncertain terms that the ball must be thrown. My boy was also a bit of a thief, he loved raiding visiting friends luggage and trotting into the living room with whichever prize he had chosen. When camping, he once raided a friend’s tent and ran through camp with a bra.

For 12 years Dodger participated in the 4-H Dog ID final. He was the parti-color cocker in the Sporting Dog line up.

Dodger loved to “go too”, any time, any where. All I had to say was “Want to go too” and he was up for it. He’d hop into the backseat to have his seatbelt put on and off we’d go. Didn’t matter if it was a long trip or just running errands, and he’d have to sit alone in the car as I ran in and out of stores, he was just as happy.

When he was 7 or 8 years old he began having health issues, first it was allergies, which Benedryl and later Claritin took care of. Then it was an extremely low thyroid level, so onto Levothyroxin and he was doing much better. Then his liver decided to shut down. His vet Dr. Rott of Parkway Animal Hospital was able to turn it around and put him on a morning dose of Denamarin which assisted his liver with its detoxification duties. He had to have a blood test every six months for the rest of his life. It was amazing how happy he was and acted like there was nothing wrong at all. He had a wonderful sense of humor about the whole thing. The blood tests were never what was considered normal, but we decided that they were Dodger’s new normal. Dodger loved his vet – Dr. Rott and the staff at Parkway Animal Hospital and they loved him. When Dodger was 13 years of age he started going down hill medically and I faced the decision to let him go. Before I did that a friend and I took him to the coast, the beach at Sunset Bay for one last visit. He loved this beach as it has easy access and lots of lovely smells to investigate. While there I got a brief view of my happy-go-lucky boy, but he tired quickly so we went and got a small bowl of ice cream.

Dodger went to the Rainbow Bridge at the age of 13 years, 3 months and 9 days. There will forever be a Dodger size hole in my heart. For a medium size dog he touched a lot of lives. I want to thank Dr. Rott and the staff at Parkway Animal Hospital for taking such good care of him over the years and for making a donation in his name.

A donation was made in Dodger's memory and the memorial was created on December 16, 2017.