Born: July 4, 2017
Deceased: November 29, 2024
Sire: Am GrCh Redrunjazzberry Bojangles Acmf
Dam: Am Ch Red Run Busy Being Fabulous
You can see Ben’s OFA health test results here
Ben’s Pedigree
Osteosarcoma (Bone Cancer) is locally invasive Cancer. The cancer starts in the middle of the bone, in the marrow, where the primitive bone precursor cells live. It is also aggressive distantly, with most cases already having spread to other sites outside the bone cavity, typically the lungs, at the time of diagnosis. Osteosarcoma is most often diagnosed in dogs between the ages of 6 and 8 years old. Amputation alone only provides short-term pain relief. Most dogs succumb to distant metastasis within months, and only 10% of dogs will survive for one year.
At the end of October 2024 Ben had a small lump on his front right leg. By the end of November 2024 his entire leg swelled to more than double in size, and he could no longer put any weight on it. His last day, even with 2 types of pain management medications his eyes still showed he was in pain. For me, it was time to say goodbye.
I will miss him leaning against me like a cat while I am at the sink, standing between my legs and sticking his face in mine for attention. But, instead of dwelling on my loss, I choose to remember what he gave. When people ask me “Why the vizsla breed?” I reply with “They make me laugh every day!”. Ben definitely fulfilled that requirement. Ben was a character. He thought that other dogs were put on earth to serve as something soft to lay on. I would like to say I remember long walks on the beach with him but that would be a lie since whenever we walked on the beach he always spent the entire time in the water, while the other dogs would be in and out checking in with me, Ben loved the water so much that he stayed in the ocean until the very last minute when he knew he had to come out and did so reluctantly. Ben loved the frisbee or anything that was thrown. He only allowed his daughter to take a ball from his mouth. If I ever dropped anything or something was on the ground, I only had to ask him to “show me” and he would go pick it up and bring it to me fighting off all the other dogs that wanted it, with that Vizsla look in his eye. His “Risky Business” running and sliding on the floor always made me laugh. Unfortunately, Reign was usually at the end of the slide so he didn’t think it was that funny. Not sure how we will get on without him policing the other dogs.
He was a Grand Champion in the show ring, did well in the field and water earning his FDJ, WDJ and NAVHDA Pz III titles. I would have loved to show him more, but the show ring wasn’t his favourite thing. He never liked the car and there are always a lot of car rides to the shows. At the Elora, Ontario shows in December 2019, it was obvious he wasn’t enjoying himself and I promised him then I would never make him go to another show again and we didn’t.
Enjoy the pictures showing a very few of the good times in the short time we had. You never know how much time there is so treat every day as your last.