Originally posted November 8, 2007
Unfortunately our little MacArthur was diagnosed with cancer in late August and we had to put him to sleep in October. He was a good little dog and a faithful playmate of Buddy for six years. We miss him.
MacArthur was so well taken care of by Dr. Sasseville at Leesburg Vet. The cancer was just too aggressive and we made the very difficult choice to let MacArthur live out his life in dignity. The chemo treatments and etc. would not have made a difference for him. MacArthur was a dog of great dignity. It was the best thing we could do for him.
We originally adopted MacArthur from the Animal Shelter in Waterford. We were looking for a dog to keep Buddy company when we were at work. Honestly we had a bigger dog in mind.
When we were looking at dogs, the gentleman at the pound kept coming back to MacArthur. (That wasn’t his name at the time.) “What about this dog?” he kept asking us. We finally asked why he was so interested in us taking that dog. It seems that MacArthur’s time was running out at the pound. So we took him.
At first, MacArthur didn’t want to have a thing to do with us. He had a family, who I think he loved, and they gave him up. He was pretty convinced that we were going to give him us as well. We didn’t. As time went on, he became more and more of our pack. He loved Buddy and his Man. (He tolerated me because I fed him.)
Buddy and MacArthur had their own games and rules that Buddy is trying to teach Elvis now. Elvis just doesn’t get the purpose of “chase” or “king of the deck” but Buddy will keep trying to teach him.
MacArthur loved chasing the squirrels and the groundhogs and loved skunks. One summer he was sprayed three times and actually caught a skunk. The skunk baths, which require standing soaking wet with something called “skunk off” rubbed into the fur, were not fun but perhaps worth it.
So MacArthur has moved to a farm in Western Massachusetts. We miss him here but know that he can breathe now and is no longer in pain.
