Tash's Key to Success

Thursday February 9th 2006 at 6 pm we said good bye to a very good friend.

As Kasondra and I sat and held her Tash's Key To Success ( KEY) quietly went to sleep.
She hadn't been feeling well for a couple of months, had just had a surgery and many tests. When on Tuesday she took a turn for the worst. After more blood tests, that didn't show anything, an ultra sound showed she had cancer. It was spread through out her whole body. Heart, liver, kidneys and spleen.

I miss her terribly, she was my friend, teacher and companion for 11 years.

We met April Fools day 11 years ago at the Tacoma Humane Society. She was a frightened 4 month old puppy who stole my heart.
Over the years she grew into a wonderful, funny, smart, sweet girl. She had a few Obedience and Herding titles but was retired early because of hip and spine problems.

But titles are not what a dog is. They are much more important to us than that. They come into our lives to teach us and Key taught me many things.

Key was a true Omega, a role that is often over looked when speaking about dog packs. She helped keep order in my pack for many years. Her role was to be funny, appeasing and defuse tension.

When Kluwe was a young wild teenager and my other dogs though he was hopeless. Key spent a lot of time quietly teaching him how to be a good pack member. They had a very deep loving bond. Key would interact with him in a way I had never seen her do before.
Key may have been retired from competing but she never stopped working. She was my number 1 demo dog for many years. A role she took very seriously. She could work a class like a pro, knowing when to be calm, funny or what ever the class needed.
I often joked that she really didn't need me to teach I was only there to translate what she was doing to English.
Even though I hurt from her loss, I gained so much from having her in my life.

Thank you Key.

Cathy Horrocks