Goodbye My Little Ukie

    It is with great sadness that I write this post. Our 13 year-old pappillon, Ukie, passed away.  We got her from the Kentucky Humane Society in January of 1998 and named her after our favorite sport team, the University of Kentucky or UK. The men's basketball team went on to win the NCAA championship that March so we always thought Ukie was a lucky charm.

She loved to travel with us. Over the years we've taken her on many car trips and we've been camping many times. She's been as far north as Wisconsin and as far south as the Florida Keys. Here she is riding the excursion train in Sterns, Kentucky back in 2003.

Here she is sleeping on the bed in the camper.

Here we are on the beach at St. Augustine, Florida with my husband holding Ukie. I am holding our other dog, Pilar, who is a different breed (American Eskimo). Pilar is 3 years younger than Ukie.

Here they are on the trail. They both liked to go hiking with us.

As she got older she developed arthritis in her hips and couldn't walk far. We bought a Doggy Ride buggy to take her along with us. This photo was taken on Mackinac Island, Michigan last summer.

Here she is waiting for breakfast in the camper. She was at her most alert whenever food was around. We knew she was really sick when she lost her appetite.

Though we did not know it at the time, this was the last picture we took of Ukie. She is laying on our bed last week Monday. We took her to the vet that afternoon and found out that she was severly anemic due to internal bleeding. They didn't have a chance to find out why but it was probably some type of cancer. She died the next day, Tuesday, July 13.

We miss you Ukie. You were the best dog anyone could have.