In Memoriam

Reilly was born in Virginia on July 4, 1999. She came from a long line of champion labrador retrievers. Reilly and I became a family when she was about 8 weeks old. From the time she was about 7 months old, Reilly loved hiking, swimming, and playing frisbee on the national mall in downtown Washington, D.C. Dave met Reilly when she was about 10 months old and that summer, Reilly had her first experience with camping. She loved it. She liked running around, sleeping by the fire, and eating all kinds of food that people would drop on the ground.

Reilly and I moved to Utah in February 2002. In October, Jojo joined the family. Jojo loved Reilly. And Reilly loved Jojo, although she also loved time away from him when she could retrieve without Jojo stealing her frisbee or tennis ball.

Reilly loved everyone. She was gentle, yet tough. She never cried. She was friendly and fun-loving. In the winter, she loved wrestling with Jojo in the snow. In the summer, she loved swimming in the pool.

Reilly died at approximately 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2008, less than 24 hours after she was diagnosed with a tumor in her hip and/or abdominal area. The tumor penetrated one of the major veins in her left back leg and the leg became very swollen. After we brought Reilly back home from the Cottonwood Animal Hospital on Saturday evening, her breathing became very labored and her heart was practically coming out of her chest. We made her as comfortable as possible. In the morning, I helped Reilly to go outside. She didn’t want to come back inside, so I brought her bed outside so she could enjoy the sunshine. I checked on her a couple of times and she was doing OK. Then, when I came outside at about 11:00 a.m., she was gone.
Here is one of the last pictures I took of Reilly.

Reilly pooh, we miss you!