Nicknames: Henry, Herschel Walker Texas Ranger, Bubba, Hillary (when he's acting like a pansy)
Birthday: January 2005
Breed: Mutt (possibly a mix between something resembling a bull terrier/pit bull/basset hound?)
Here is Harsh as a young pup.
All grown up with his signature floppy ear.
Bad quality photo, but such a goofy shot!
I LOVE this one. I know he looks so vicious, but he is far from it.
And his most recent mug shot. Such a handsome man-dog.
Harsh is such a great dog. We have never officially trained him to do any tricks, but somehow he knows how to sit, lay down, and come. He is the most obedient out of our 3 dogs.
Sadly, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer back in June 2011. The prognosis was not good because the cancer is incurable. The specialist said that they could operate, but it would just be to de-bulk the tumor, not remove it entirely. She also recommended chemotherapy. All of that treatment combined would have cost us easily over $2000. It wouldn't save his life, and since it involved surgery and chemo, he would likely be made MORE uncomfortable. We couldn't imagine putting him through that mess.
So we chose not to. The specialist offered an alternative to the above treatments. She said rather than doing nothing at all, we could always try to keep him on a regular anti-inflammatory medication. So that is what we have done... for the past 7 months! And he seems to be doing great. It was difficult for the vet to give us a time frame for his life expectancy, but he has far surpassed any expectations that any of us had and we are so grateful for that.
On a happier note, below are some of Harsh's likes and dislikes. :)
Likes: Burt's Bees Lip Balm, laser pointers, tennis balls, pretending he is a lap dog, being the noisiest water-drinker, and giving kisses & hugs.
Dislikes: Baths (all of our dogs hate them, but he hates them most), flies, the doorbell, weed eaters on the other side of the fence, and car rides.
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