Devo Wayne

above - Devo (in my arms) is first to welcome me back home, circa 2004

My little buddy Devo Wayne isn't with us any more. For those of you who don't know, Devo was abandoned as a puppy in my mother-in-law's neighborhood a little over 6 years ago. He was a puppy terrier mutt and had a broken leg at the time they found him, my in-laws nursed him back to health until he was mobile and then we "adopted" him. He was always a feisty little dog and the "alpha" dog of the house, even when we added a new cat and a 75 lb dog. I don't know if it was bad genetics or pain resulting from whatever broke his leg all those years back, but as he matured he started having pain in his hind quarters - this manifested itself as a dog who would yipe if you moved anywhere near him unexpectedly. It got so bad that the vet started him on cordosoidal (sp?) steroids to ease this degenerative hip and lower back condition. Eventually, even medicine couldn't ease his pain, so we decided to make the difficult, but rational decision to ease his pain for him. R.I.P. little buddy.