Dear Cassie's Club,

On June 2nd, 2009,
the world lost a sweet, tough, cancer-fighting Rottweiler named Barley.

Barley was rescued by the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program
from a shelter back in October of 2005.

Her time was up at the shelter
and she was in serious danger of being euthanized!

We rescued her in time,
and soon after,
found out that she suffered from bone cancer.

Barley had to have one of her front legs amputated due to the cancer
and her prognosis was not great, even after surgery.

We knew at the time she was rescued that her days were numbered,
but she was such a fighter, we had to give her a chance.

She had SO much life and love to give.
She was not ready to give up.

Barley did recover from surgery
and could run faster on three legs than many dogs with four!

Besides the cancer, Barley developed a heart problem,
which recently worsened considerably.

Barley's family is terribly sad,
but they know 100% that her life since October of 2005
has been fabulous!

She never wanted for a thing, and was loved so much.

She loved to play with toys, and loved to chase the cat!
Unfortunately, the cat passed away this past January,
leaving Barley with no one to chase around!

I think that may have been another reason why she was "ready,"
because she missed her Austin kitty.

Very, very sad, but we can't wait to see her again.
We know that she is in a better place,
and she is not hurting any longer.

Barley was a great dog, and she will be missed very much.

Thanks for caring about these dogs!!

Whitney Peterson
Tuesday June 2, 2009

Thanks for having this web site.
Our little corgi, Babe, has a very large hemangiopericytoma tumor
on her left front leg. After discussing the options with our vet,
finding your web site and doing a lot of research on the Internet
about this kind of tumor,we opted for amputation.

It was a really hard decision, because she had no symptoms
other than this huge cancerous growth on her leg.
She ran, she jumped. she played with her other 2 dog siblings.

She had her surgery today.
The vet called and said she is doing just fine.

She is a tuff little girl and I am sure she will be back to ruling the household soon. Here are some pictures of her with her one of her sibs and one of her tumor. I will update you on her recovery.

Thanks,
Donna Holsclaw
Friday June 12, 2009

UPDATE:

Babe is doing awesome.
It's just been 3 days since the surgery
and she is hopping all over the house.
Babe will be 7 in October.

When I take her outside to potty, after she is done,
she gets to the back door faster than I do.

I put her pain pills in a little glob of peanut butter wrapped in a piece of bread. She never knows they are in there.

Her Border Collie brother, Bob, doesn't understand whats going on.
They are ruff and tumble buddies and played hard together every day.
He still wants to play and wrestle, but we are not letting him
and he is all like "What the heck is going on? We do this every day."

Thanks for the info on walking and strange dogs.
We do enjoy our walks in the morning.

Anyway, thanks again for having your website.
I tell everybody about it and the fact that your website helped us with the decision. I have attached the "day after" picture.

Donna Holsclaw
Monday June 15, 2009