RIP Rocket and Goblin

Monday March, 7 was a very sad day at StinkyPup Kennel. We euthanized two dogs, Rocket and Goblin.

Rocket was a 14 year old boy. He was a very sweet dog. We got Rocket in August of 2008 and he ran the Serum Run with me until the trip was canceled due to too much snow. Before we got Rocket he had run the Quest and Quest 300 and other races.

Rocket retired from running in 2011, at 9 years old,  because he tended to overheat. In around 2014 Rocket got beat up by 8-10 StinkyPup dogs and this is what I think screwed up his back.  He never fully recovered from the fight and developed very bad neurological problems in his back. For the last 4 months, he was unable to walk on his back legs and used his front paws to drag himself around the yard.  Rocky boy we will miss you!

Goblin was a fairly young dog, only 9 years old, who we got in June 2013. I remember running Goblin in 2013 and thinking he was an awesome and powerful addition to the team.

It took Goblin around 4-6 months to let us pet him. At first he would only come to us when we brought a harness out. I recall Tami, our handler, sitting in his pen trying to befriend the Gobster– finally he came to her and let her pet him.

Soon after we got him he developed a limp, and I thought it was just a shoulder injury, so I didn’t run him. In June 2014 Goblin seemed sort of off, so I brought him to the vet, thinking I was just overreacting. Turns out I was right, something was off, Goblin had heart failure.  We started Goblin on heart meds and began getting is abdomen drained once a month due to fluid build up. We’re very surprised he lived as long as he did! He lived a year and 9 months since his diagnosis. That’s pretty good!  Gobby, we’ll miss you very much.