Wabash Andy

“Apollo” and “Andy”

05/12/1994-12/18/2006

  Wabash Andy came to live with me about Halloween, 1997.  I was not fond of the name Andy; it reminded me of Hurricane Andrew, so I called him Apollo.  Apollo in the dictionary means “god of beauty, music and poetry in motion.”  He was all of those things.

He was still hurting from his broken hock.  But the fine surgeons at AVS fixed him up beautifully; he lived 8.5 more years without limitation. We walked one mile each weekday morning and on the weekends, we walked 2-3 miles.  When he came to us, we had a twelve pound long-haired mixed breed who was very bossy.  Apollo handled her with such tolerance!  During his life with us, he acted as older brother to my Mom's Boston terrier, a female greyhound we adopted from a small breeder and another fawn male greyhound.  He liked them all except for the big fawn.  One day I came home and explained to Apollo that the fawn had died and would not be coming home. He kicked up his heels and cavorted around the yard, adding a bit of levity to an otherwise sad day.  He liked his doggy ice cream, his walks, rides in the car and greeting all the trick-or-treaters at the door.  He loved running around the back yard and would run as fast as he could from side to side. He liked helping me with yard work and digging holes. He loved to chase his ball, and taught the others how to do it. When he turned twelve, the doctors told me he had a soft tissue mass in his right hip and there was nothing to be done.  He lived six more months.  One night he told me he was scared and in pain.  I had to let him go.  I can still imagine his spirit running around the back yard.