Mon., Mar. 21, 2011 - Hardee's new blog picture

I added a new picture of Hardee to the blog last night.  The picture was taken back in January at an agility trial, and I just love it.

The picture was taken by Susan Rennie of Faces Of Dogs.  Susan was attending the agility trial taking some pictures, and she asked if she could photograph Hardee.  Here is a link to her website.  http://facesofdog.com

Hardee has his own chair that he gets to sit in at trials, like the prince he is.  Since we are a patriotic family, Hardee's chair is a flag chair.  He was sitting in his chair when the picture was taken, and I love that you can see the stars and stripes in the background of the picture.

When Hardee went through radiation back in Aug. 2010, he lost the hair on his face, muzzle, and the top of his head.  Some of the hair grew back; some didn't.  Most of what did grow back, grew back white instead of brown.  There is also a spot on his lower right eyelid that lost pigment when they had to radiate some of his right eye.  His nose is now crusty, hardened, and a different color than before radiation, but we don't care.  We love all his new parts, and we still think he is handsome.

We think of the changes that have occured to Hardee, since chemo and radiation have run their course, as his battle scars or his war wounds.  He has earned a purple heart in our opinion.  He has fought hard to continue to live, and we have fought even harder to keep him with us and maintain a good quality of life for him.  It is the face of courage that you see now when you look at him, which is what I titled the picture....face of courage.

Here's to Hardee, our courageous little bubs.  Keep the good fight my boy, as long as you can.  We are so proud of you, and so happy you are ours.  As always, it is all about joy and all about Hardee.   


P.S.- There have been no side effects from Hardee's new chemo drug that we tried a week ago, but I have kept him on all of his side effect drugs.  And, a small brag here....Hardee has moved up in the agility rankings and is now ranked the #4 dog of all the Portuguese Water Dogs in agility for the AKC Agility Invitational for 2011.  We are thrilled and oh so proud of him!