Up until the last week of his life, Dax was a very energetic and active boy. That last week was spent going from specialist to specialist running tests trying to discover why (among other things) he was suddenly blind (detached retinas). As Dax got progressively worse, I had to make the difficult decision of sending him on to a better place. Necropsy results showed that Dax had a disease called protothecosis. It is an uncommon disease, is almost always fatal and there is no way to know how he contracted it. It took one vet and two specialists to finally determine what he had. Unfortunately, in Dax's case, even if we had found out what it was sooner...the results would have been the same.

I will miss him very much; he was such a sweet, goofy boy. Dax always seemed to have his chin in the air and was extremely nosy. Heaven help the person that walked by the rings at a show with something, he just had to see what you were carrying...just ask the girl who lost her panythose to Dax!!! As a matter of fact, it took a very long time before I could carry laundry through the house without holding it above my head. At the motorhome, he was affectionately known as Dennis the Menace or Dax-a-Doodle. Ike Liotto said that he'd never seen a dog that could have his head pointed forward but still see what was going on behind him. He just had to check everything out and see what was going on. I had never owned a male dog before, so Dax was my first. I understand now, why some people really like the boys, there's just something about them.

There will always be a special place in my heart for Dax and as heartbreaking as that last week was, I will always remember and be grateful for his obvious approval of that last walk out to the van. Rest in peace Doodle...you lived up to the name..."I'm Your Man".