Francie, now Shannon

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Francie

Francie before her hair cut.

Francie during her shave.

Francie

Francie after her hair cut.

Francie's ear has 5" long hair.

From: Janet McCallen <janetgmccallen@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: The Life of Shannon
Date: September 17, 2011 5:33:35 PM PDT

Shannon, some of you may recall, was originally a KBT Foundation rescue when
she was less than a year old. I got her when she was around 4, after she'd
had a litter of pups (of which Riley was one), and she had mammary cancer.
We had the original tumor removed. Nine months later, she had another one,
and when the biopsy came back "cancer," but they didn't have clean margins,
I took her to the Univ of Tenn Vet School for chemo, every 3 weeks for 5
treatments. Since then she's had three followup checks, all clean.

Shannon

Shannon at age 4 (silver blue), and
Riley, her son, age 18 months (darkest black)

In July, all of a sudden, she had a growth at the base of her tail. I took
her to our regular vet, and they advised removing it, immediately. We were
going to FL for 3 weeks in a few days, and I said I'd think about it. At
the beach, I got clear that if it was cancerous, I wouldn't subject her to
any more surgery. I want the rest of her life to be fun and good - not
recovering from surgery. I scheduled an appointment with the alternative
vet near here, and she confirmed that 98% of that kind of growth is
cancerous. She also supported my decision not to have surgery (which she
does, BTW), since it's delicate and can result in anal incontinence. She's
put Shannon on several supplements to support her immune system, and may do
acupuncture if it's needed. No guarantees, but she said that Shannon may
have several more years.

So today, Shannon and I went on a 10-mile hike with a friend and his 100 lb
Weimeraner-Lab mix, Napoleon. I decided to take only one dog, since if the
3 went in different directions, I couldn't cope, and I picked Shannon to go
with me. Now, I didn't know it was going to be a 10 mile hike. He kept
saying we could stop whenever I wanted. And we did stop and cook lunch,
then continued about another half mile to see a beautiful waterfall. Then,
we had to return. I ran out of gas about 1/3 of the way back, but there was
nothing to do but keep going. Shannon felt the same way, I think, because
instead of running ahead (as Napoleon continued to do), she just followed us
on the way back. But she was a trooper and never faltered. When we'd come
to streams, Napoleon would wade in and lie down to drink, but Shannon would
prance around until she was standing on rocks (no paws in the stream, thank
you) and then drink.

Needless to say, she slept thru the 45 minute drive home, ate her dinner,
and is sleeping beside me on the couch now. Dante and Riley, on the other
hand, are full of energy and I'm just pawning them off on chew toys.
Tomorrow is another day... Scarlet said.

Shannon

The three dogs in the last picture are Shannon (darker),
Riley (silvering), and Dante, a Biewer Terrier.
They are 6, 3, and 18 months old.
Janet McCallen is holding the leashes.