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| On July 2, 2003, our beautiful golden lost his battle with cancer. He was
about 13. Sneakers passed peacefully into the next world, on his own, with
us by his side. We have an aching emptiness in our hearts, but we’re
relieved that his suffering is over.
We adopted Sneakers from Norcal Golden Retriever Rescue in June 1998. He was shy but so sweet and lovable, we couldn’t believe he had been a stray. He had suffered plenty, too, judging by his frequent nightmares and by the discovery, during an x-ray, of an air-gun pellet in his leg. In time Sneakers’ bad dreams faded, and he blossomed. He enjoyed hiking and exploring and went with us everywhere, from the ghost town of Bodie to the Rockies to Mammoth (he took the tram to the top of the mountain, brave boy) to the Patriarch Grove of ancient bristlecone pines, at 11,200 feet in the Eastern Sierra. Sneakers loved to play in the snow and would roll around in it, kicking his legs in the air. Once he learned how to swim, he loved that, too. He couldn’t swim fast, but he could swim far, and showing off a retrieved tennis ball or stick pleased him immensely. Sneakers became a regular at Point Isabel and at the yearly NGRR Wag ’n’ Walk, romping and roo-rooing with the other dogs, and pouring on the charm for treats and petting. It was as if he were making up for lost time. But this year Sneakers faced new foes: laryngeal paralysis, back leg paralysis, and, worst of all, tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma. He patiently endured radiation and chemo treatments and lasted for four months—three months longer than his initial prognosis. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Paula DeCosta and vet tech Rynie Quan (Sneakers’ aunt) at Cypress Veterinary Hospital in Oakley, as well as Dr. Joseph Impellizeri and Dr. Steven Crow at Sacramento Animal Medical Group, Sneakers enjoyed life for most of the time he had left. We are grateful to NGRR for matching us with such a wonderful golden oldie. Sweet, gentle, patient, kind, loving, and playful—happy and trusting despite everything he’d been through—Sneakers was truly our wonder dog, and we miss him terribly.
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 Sneakers at the 2003 Wag 'n' Walk wearing his Most Loved Golden Oldie
medal, which NGRR gave him after he was carried by his owner in the Alumni Parade. (He was too weak from his tonsil cancer to walk much at that point.)
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 Sneakers taking a break after swimming down at Mammoth Lakes in 2000. | ||
 Sneakers looking for lizards at Sheep Dung
Estates.
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 Sneakers' last swim, at Sheep Dung Estates
in June.
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 Sneakers playing in the snow. It
was one of his favorite things to do. We think that he'd never seen snow
before we took him up to Donner Pass.
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 A family portrait above Donner
Lake.
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 Marla and Sneakers | ||
 Sneakers at Arches National Park
in Utah. He sure traveled a lot!
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 This glamour shot, taken at
the Point Isabel dog park, appeared in the 2000 NGRR calendar. Sneakers was Mister August | ||
 Sneakers next to some big
logs at Sibley Volcanic Preserve in the Oakland hills. He loved hiking and
exploring. | ||
| Enjoy this slide show of the larger sized photos on this page. | ||
| Return to Norcal GRR Memorial Page |