Dakota's Page

Weight: 120
Breed: Great Pyrenees
Age when diagnosed: 9

Tumors:

DAKOTA’S STORY

On August 24, 2004 I was home from work and playing with my dogs when I noticed a bulge on my 9 ½ Year old Great Pyrenees Dakota. She was standing up in my front hallway of my house and I walked over to her and felt her left front leg. Not knowing what is was, I immediately called my Vet and told them I found a big bump on my Dakota’s leg. I asked if I could bring her in, it was about 5:30pm. I also said I would be bringing my other Great Pyrenees Natasha in for her shots.
I arrived at the Vet clinic and Dr Jones had taken Natasha in back and gave her the shots. Then he looked at Dakota’s leg and said we need to take x-rays. He wanted me to leave her there for the night and I asked him can I just bring her back in the morning? The next morning I drove Dakota to the Vet and dropped her off. They told me I could pick her up around 2 in the afternoon. I was nervous all day, not knowing what it was. The night before I had noticed she was limping. Never did I notice it before. She wasn’t putting much weight on the leg. However she never cried out in any pain. It was now 2 in the afternoon and it was time to go pick up Dakota. They put me in a room, brought Dakota in, she was very happy to see me and then Dr Jones came in and brought with him the X-ray. He put it on the board turned on the light and showed me the mass that was in her leg. He said without hesitation it was OS. I said what is that, he said bone cancer. When he said that, I was in total shock. I asked him what we could do and he said, not sure amputation is an option because of her age and she was overweight, but he did say he was willing to try it, but he had never had to amputate a dogs leg that was this big. He did say that dogs do adapt, but he was worried she might not consider her size. Dakota was about 122 pounds. She did eat well and was very spoiled. He said the amputation would take away the pain and that he did take x-rays of her lungs and they were clear. I asked how long I have to make the decision and he said, “I wouldn’t wait to long, but he thinks we had a couple of weeks to make a decision on what her treatment should be.”

Well I left the Vet’s office in tears and called my parents to tell them what was wrong with Dakota. The felt awful for us and said she was an old dog and had lived a great life and maybe I should consider putting her down instead of putting her through an operation like that. They had fears she would never get up again as well.

When I got home with Dakota and after feeding her and Natasha, I immediately got on the computer to find out what OS was. I found a lot of information on the disease and didn’t realize how many large dogs get this disease. In my research I came across a Yahoo group called Canine Bone Cancer. I joined immediately. I didn’t post as I was still in shock over my baby, but I began to read a bunch of the posts and then found the files. I printed a story about another Great Pyrenees named Cruiser “the Wonder-Pry”. I read his story and was inspired about how well Cruz has been doing. I decided to post and tell Dakota’s story. The first person who responded to me was my now dear friend Jenny, (Bruno’s Mom). She said she was sorry I had to come here and be with this group but that I had come to the right place. She reassured me that things would be alright and that dogs do adapt to three legs. I still was not sure what I should do and was fearful that if I did an amputation that my Dakota may never get up again. I posted my fears to the site and everyone reassured me that Dogs no matter how big or small, do want to get up and walk again, even on three legs.
Well I discussed with my parents about the amputation as well as my brothers and the girl I was dating at the time about what to do. I even talked to Dakota to try and get her to tell me what she wanted. I looked deep into her eyes and saw plenty of life in her eyes and it was at that moment, maybe 5 days after she was dx with OS I decided I had to give her a chance. So I decided to have her left front leg amputated. I needed to do this in a hurry because I was less then a month and a half away from going on my vacation of a lifetime down under to Australia and New Zealand for three weeks. I told my parents of my decision and they still didn’t agree with me. I told them come over and look at Dakota and tell me you don’t see a will to live in her eyes and I would agree with them and not do it. They came over and saw that spirit she still had in her eyes and agreed with me that I should try. Money was not the issue. I had the money to try and save my precious babies life.

I called Dr Jones and schedule the surgery for September 9, 2004. When I scheduled the operation, I asked about what the recommendation was for her treatment after the operation. I knew the amputation would only take away the pain, but not stop the possible spread of the cancer. He said you could do 4-6 rounds of chemo but with a dog her age he wouldn’t recommend that. Once again I was off to the Yahoo group to ask for advice and to see what other did and didn’t do. Everyone gave advice on the subject and no one said I should do one thing versus another thing. The one piece of advice that really stuck out with me was that there were no wrong decisions, just do what you are comfortable with and what you feel is right for your own pet. With this advice in hand and Dakota’s age I decided to not do chemo, just amputate the leg and whatever time I left with Dakota would be alright with me, because she would be pain free from the tumor on her leg.

Well the date of September 9th came very quickly and it was time for me to take Dakota to the Vet. I was very nervous when I dropped her off. I asked how long the operation would take and when were they going to do it. He said they were schedule to do the operation about 11:00am. The doctor said to call around 3:00pm to check on her. Talking about the slowest day of my life? It seemed to take forever for 3 o’clock to get here. I called exactly at 3 and Dr Jones said that she did great and that she was out of surgery around 1:30 and was still very groggy but starting to wake up. He said he wanted to keep her a couple days until he could get her up on her feet. I called right before the closed to check on her and they said she was doing fine. I asked when I could see her and they said the next day in the afternoon. I asked if someone would be there over night and they said someone is there until midnight then someone comes in a 5am. Needless to say I really didn’t sleep that night. I called immediately when I knew the office open the next morning to check on her and they said she was doing well and that I could see her at 3 in the after noon. I went by to see her at 3 and wasn’t sure what I was going to expect. I didn’t realize how much that had to shave of her fur. I did find out, I didn’t own a white dog, but instead I owned a pink dog. :o) Dakota was very happy to see me and even tried to get up but couldn’t. I just petted her and kissed and told her how proud I was of her and how much I loved her. I asked the doctor when could I bring her home and he said, he wanted to get her standing first before letting her go home. She was at the animal hospital 5 days before I was able to bring her home. I brought her home on a Tuesday and the operation was on a Thursday.

When I went to pick her up on the 14th of September, I was scared to death on how I was going to take care of her at home. They taught me how to change her dressing and clean the wound and give her hydrotherapy. The hydrotherapy basically consisted of me spraying a hose with warm water on her incision for 10 minutes three times a day. I stayed home from work with Dakota the rest of the week. Fortunately I work for myself as a mortgage broker and can work from home. The first day went well and Dakota slept most of the time. I did the therapy and changed her dressing often. The nights were terrible as she wouldn’t sleep and kept me up most of the nights. 4 days straight I didn’t sleep. She also started to chew on her incision. I tried putting a T-shirt on her so she couldn’t get to it, but she managed to take that off as well. Dakota was an exhibitionist and preferred to run naked. :o) well Dakota opened the incision, so back to the animal hospital to get it restitched. Well at this time I asked if I could give her anything to help her sleep. He gave me a sedative for her. That next Tuesday night I gave her the sedative so she would sleep and so would I. She slept through the night, but the next morning she was too groggy to get up, so I left her where she was and went to work and checked back on her at lunch. She was till out of it at lunch time and I got worried, so I had my neighbor help me put her in the truck and off to the Vet again. She was dehydrated and had shallow breathing. I got her to the Clinic right on time, they took her in right away. Dr Jones was not on duty but the other doctor was and said we should take chest x-rays first to see if the cancer had spread to the lungs, because if it had they would had advised me to put her down. At this point I broke down and started to cry. The doctor came back out and said there were no signs of cancer spreading to the lungs, but they needed to keep her on an IV and treat her for dehydration and that they needed to keep her a few nights. At this point I said keep her a few days I need the rest. I checked up on her three times before going to bed that day and each time her temperature was going down and she was getting better. They ended up keeping her another five days.

Dr Jones then decided we needed to giver her better therapy and it would be wise for me to bring her in each morning, leave her there and pick her up in the evening. They would do the hydrotherapy for me. It was now two weeks before leaving for Australia and Dakota still didn’t get up on her own. Well two weeks before I left my parents came over to see her and when Dakota saw my mom, she amazed everyone by standing up and walking over to her grandma. I had another decision to make before I left for three weeks. What do I do with Dakota when I am gone? I usually had a friend stay at my house with the dogs and take care of them while I was away. I didn’t want to put my friend through having to take care of a dog that was going through rehabilitation and asked the Vet clinic, if I could board Dakota there for the three weeks. She already like going there and hanging out during the day and they loved having her. They agreed and she became the lab dog for the three weeks I was away. Every morning they would take Dakota out of her run and let her hang out in the lab room with her. Boy did she get spoiled while I was gone. It turned out to be the best decision I did for Dakota.

When I got back from my trip the first thing I did was run down to the Vet to pick up my Dakota. When she saw me she was so excited, but she was walking on her own. I ran over to her and just kissed her all over. I brought her home and we started to enjoy everyday we had together. I must have told her a million times a day how much I loved her.


We started to make little goals for Dakota. Some of the goals where make it to Thanksgiving, make it to Christmas, make it to New Years 2005, grow your hair back. :o) The months started going by. We reach 6 months and she was thriving.

Around the summer of 2005 the ninth month, I started to notice Dakota’s legs were very swollen. Back to the Vet. He looked at her x-rayed her, no lung mets at 9 months, but he DX her with HO, which was swelling of the limbs caused by the cancer, he told me. Back I went to the internet to find out what it was. He gave me Rimydal, she was to take 1 chewable tablet 2 times a day for the rest of her life.

Dakota’s year anniversary came up and I asked Lynda, (Cruz’s Mom), if it was ok if I started calling Dakota a wonder-pry also, she said Cruz would be honored and Dakota was truly a wonder-pyr. So I started calling her Dakota (wonder-pry #2). Our year anniversary went by and we still had our little goals, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years 2006. Well she made it to all of them, but in December I started to notice she was having trouble getting up. She needed some assistance. I would help her on occasion, but sometimes she needed my assistance. By the middle of December she could no longer get up on her own and she started to crawl to places. I knew the end was near for my baby girl. Our goals started to become is this a good day or bad day. She still had more good days then bad days and I didn’t mind helping her up. Back in December she also developed a cough and she was having trouble breathing. I knew that these were the signs of lung mets. I didn’t take her in to get x-rayed, because I knew in my heart what is was and I didn’t want to put her through any more procedures. It had been 15 ½ months post amp at this point and I just wanted to keep her happy. New Years came and we celebrated. Her 16th month anniversary came of her amp and we celebrated. But I knew in my heart it was no longer months but weeks. On January 20th she started to whine and cry, I called the doctor and told him what was going on and I said I know she doesn’t have much more time but I wanted to make her as pain free as possible and is there anything I could give her. He prescribed Tramadol for her. Gave me 1 0 day supply to see how it would work. Her eyes were getting more blood shot and her breathing became even more labored. She even couldn’t stand up for long periods of time anymore and I had to hold her up while she would go to the bathroom. She started to go to the bathroom on herself and I knew it was not weeks anymore but days. I wanted Dakota to have her dignity and didn’t want to put her through that.

On January 25th, she stopped eating her dog food and would only eat people food. Like chicken, turkey, roast beef. I would feed her whatever she would eat at this point. I didn’t care, just wanted her to eat. I knew I would have to make that decision soon. On Monday January 30, 2006, Dakota ate very little chicken I made for her. At that moment I knew I had to let her go. On Tuesday January 31, I called Dr Jones and scheduled an appointment for February 1, 2006 at 1:30 pm to send her off the Bridge. That Tuesday night she had many visitors that came by to see her and she was very happy. We had a rough night on Tuesday night and she really didn’t sleep. Dr Jones gave me some extra Tramadol to help with her pain but it really didn’t work. I stayed up with her all night petting her and telling her it was ok, until we both fell asleep at 4 in the morning. Wednesday morning my parents came over to say their final goodbyes to my girl. They left me at 11 in the morning so I could spend the final couple hours alone with her and Natasha. We hugged, we petted, we kissed, we took some final pictures and most of all I told her how much she was loved and I would miss her but it was ok and I understand she had to go. At 1 pm I had Natasha say her final good bye and I put the leash on Dakota and she walked to the truck. I put her in the truck and drove as slow as I could to the Vet. We got there I took her out of the truck and she walked into the vet’s office with her head held high. The final few steps to the exam room I carried my sweet baby. She was a lot lighter as she had lost about 10 pounds in the last week. We got to the exam room, I asked Dr Jones, how this was going to go and he told me. At 1:40 pm, my Dakota took her last breath, while I was holding her in my arms and she was gone to the Bridge. I stayed with her for 10 minutes and just cried my eyes out. I told her how much I loved her, how brave she was and I would remember her forever and see her again one day. I kissed her one last time on the head, the nose and right on the lips, (no cheating) and said goodbye one last time.

I drove home from releasing Dakota and upon arriving home Natasha was there to greet me at the door and she jumped up on her hind legs, put her front legs on my shoulders and she just hugged me and wouldn’t let go. She knew her sister was gone and that we would never be same. We are much better people and dog for having gone through this with Dakota. We will always have great memories we can carry with us in our hearts. Dakota was truly a Wonder-pry and she will leave a legacy behind her of all the love she gave to everyone she touched.

After 17 months of survival from this terrible disease, the last thing I can say about Dakota and her story is to take one day at a time. Tell your babies how much you love them everyday and just savor every minute, every second you have with your puppy dogs. The time I had her with me went entirely to fast and I wish I could do it all over again with her.

I love you Dakota and will miss you everyday for the rest of my life.

Your daddy Bruce and sisters Natasha and Jillybear & Jesse

Pictures