Been almost a month now, since they had to have Rickards put down. Sometimes it still gets me a little choked up. We're all trying to be stoic about it - she was 14, survived cancer, and had recently started going downhill, so it was in her best interest to be euth'ed.
I really like the last photo of her, with Chuck. Her entire body language was saying she wanted to play, which was a very rare state for her. Besides being a husky, and a very dominant dog, she was attacked on the leash as a pup, and had a huge issue with other dogs.
Really, she was a horrible dog. A struggle to own - she could NOT be trusted around other dogs, nor non-family. She was always happy to see the people she knew, but wasn't big on strangers. She was noisy, did not like to play, was not obedient, couldn't be trusted off leash. My mother often said that if Rickards had been owned by anyone else, she would have been put down long ago for one of her misdeeds.
In her own way, she was a good dog, though. Despite her negatives, she was still a member of the family, and we all still loved her.
