Orion Webb

We were fortunate to have found one of the best dogs anyone could have.  However, it didn't seem to start off that way.  For Father's day in 2001 we brought home an adorable chocolate lab.  We named him Orion after the great hunter.  Orion fit in perfectly at first.  He learned how to sit and fetch very early on.  He was just the cutest little thing.  As he grew and started the teething stage, he started to become a bit of a handful.  Orion like to take out our son's (who is only a month older than Orion) toys outside and chew them up.  So we bought him even more chew toys.  That didn't seem to matter to him.  We still enjoyed him tremendously, it was just getting very expensive to replace all the items he was destroying.  His favorite toy was his rope that he would play with by himself.  He would throw it up in the air and then chase after it.  It was very fun to watch him.  He eventually got to where he would get into too much trouble inside so he would have to stay outside for a while.  Only problem with that is he decided to destroy stuff outside too, like 3 barbques and numerous hoses.  We once asked someone how they were able to make it through it, and they told us that if you can get past the first 2 years of his life, you will never own a better dog.  Boy did they get that right.  After Orion was 2 he was tremendous not only in size (Orion was above standard and weighed 100 lbs) but all around.  Don't get me wrong we had tons of great times while he was little.  He was fabulous with our children from birth on.  He was always gentle with them.  He always welcomed in our other animals too.  Orion was known to play with our other dog as well as our 2 cats and sleep with them too.  Since Orion was little he would sleep on my side of the bed.  When we would get up he would get up with us, when we came home from work, he was always there to greet you.  He LOVED to go for rides in the car.  But with all the good with Orion and finally getting it to where he was an awesome dog we got bad news.  Orion had developed some large lumps around his neck.  So I took him to the vet to have them checked out.  Around November 2007 Orion was diagnosed with lymphoma carcinoma.  We were told that without treatment most dogs only live about 4 weeks.  It devastated us.  We started chemotherapy for him and he seemed to be doing fairly well.  Unfortunately chemo is about $100 a week and with four kids and 3 other pets to take care of it was quite a challenge.  We tried to space out the treatments but his cancer continued to come back and fairly strong.  Orion was such a trooper, he never once whimpered.  As time went on Orion began to get a little lethargic.  With each day he was getting weaker and some days would refuse to eat. His lumps around his neck would get big and then go down.  He had good days and then followed with bad days.  No matter how he felt he was always happy to see us and would wag his tail.  I told the kids the one thing we needed to do was to give him lots of loves throughout the day and let him know we love and care for him.  So they did.  I think he loved the attention.  Orion got to where he could not walk up the stairs anymore, meaning he could not sleep by my bed anymore.  He would sleep infront of our front door.  He was always protective of us, even when he felt terrible.  We knew that he wouldn't be with us much more so we decided to make sure we could do some of the things that he loved most.  In the morning when I took the kids to school and in the afternoon when I picked them up I took him with me.  His eyes said how much he enjoyed that.  He had a hard time getting to the car but he did it for the ride.  Unfortunately I did not get to do that very much with him.  On April 21, 2008 when I came home from work Orion was not in the house.  I went outside and had him come in.  While he was in the house he continued to let me know how bad it really was.  He would look at me and in his eyes I could see it too.  Orion would only stay in the house for a little amount of time.  I did not understand why so I followed him.  To my amazement this big boy was so very ill.  He could barely get up to walk, but he refused to have an accident in the house.  He would stand half way out the dog door and then he would begin to throw up.  He also had some internal bleeding.  I knew he was suffering.  Even in his suffering he still found the love to wag his tail when we said his name or would pet him.  So I spoke to my husband and he came home.  I went and got the kids from school so everyone could say goodbye.  After everyone got home, we went to the backyard and with the help of a friend we put Orion to sleep.  Keegan and I sat with him the whole time giving him love and letting him know how wonderful he was.  I told him it was ok to go and that his pain would be over soon.  A little later we buried him in our yard with his favorite rope.  I can't begin to express how difficult it was for me, but I was not going to leave him alone, I wanted him to be surrounded by loved ones when he went.  It is the least I could do for him.  I miss him so much and wish there was something else I could have done for him.  I know at least now he is not hurting.  Orion I hope you know how much we love and miss you.  You will always be in our hearts!

Love,

Mommy 

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