04/17/2026
We lost the Walter boy three weeks ago today on March 27th. Only a few days after finding out he had a mass on his spleen. He was about 14 and lived a long, happy life. Now finding the time to go through photos I have of him with my professional camera, I realize how much I've never gotten around to editing.
I adopted him January 24th, 2013 from the Humane Society. It's assumed he might have been a bait dog for a fighting ring. He always had issues with other male dogs and might have been a result of that. He had little marks all over him that healed up after adoption.
He turned into a major snuggle bug who always walked with a slight tail wag. He loved to seek affection. It hurts to know that blurting out a "DA BOY" as I walk through the house while making eye contact with him won't happen again. Girl foster dogs and neighbors always loved him.
What made his loss sting so much was the suddenness. Having mostly black fur, he had very little white on his face. He didn't show any symptoms of issues until the end of the spring break week before I took him to the vet.
His adopted sister, Zoey, is my original baby who I got a year before and is still chugging somehow. She had a melanoma lump pop up on her lower jaw last June. So there has been time to grieve her loss at some point. I've had both of them the vast majority of my adult life and the world that existed then is no longer there. It's like suddenly losing your childhood over again, but it's a different door of life that suddenly closed.
We love you always, Walter. 🌈🐾
