Cyrus came to us in May 2005 aged 5 years.  He had been rescued by a couple in Northampton from a home in Birmingham the day before.  After only having him in their home for one night the husband phoned me the following morning to say he could not cope as Cyrus had tormented his Labrador for the duration of his stay and they were convinced that Cyrus had vicious tendencies.  As an ever open door for adopting such unwanted canines we offered them the option of bringing him down to us and if he managed to get on well with the rest of our pack we would consider completing the paperwork for a full adoption.

Cyrus appeared to only have one annoying trait and that was his excitable bark whenever there was an opportunity for play or experiencing something new.  

Cyrus has fitted in well with the rest of our pack and even though he is by far the tallest of our dogs he is by far the most submissive.  This is one dog that loves nothing  more than joining you on the settee to rest his head upon your shoulder, or chin upon your knee, and this is the time when you can forgive him all of his excitable barking episodes.  His one lax ear, his quiet sit and offer of a paw makes him one of the more appealing dogs in the pack.  

Given every opportunity he will stand with both feet in the water bowl, or in a bucket of water, or the ultimate pleasure his all four feet in the pond.  Any depth of water he will try to duck his head or at least splash away with his front paws to soak every part of his body that he can.  The look of absolute pleasure on his face while performing these amusing traits is worth the extra mopping  this sopping wet dog creates when re-entering the house. He is just another dog that proves  the many individual characters you can find when comparing each member of a pack the size of ours.  

How they could ever think that Cyrus could have vicious tendencies is beyond me.  We could only surmise that they totally misread the reason for his barking.  As it turns out it is their loss and our gain as we have the pleasure of sharing our lives with him.  

February 2008
Late February we noticed an egg sized lump on the inner side of Cyrus's left front leg.  We immediately took him to our vet (Park Veterinary Centre, 256 Cassiobury Drive, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD17 3PA)  who performed a needle aspirate.  A few days later the results came back that this was most probably a Mast Cell Tumour.  Our own vet described the procedure required and readily admitted that due to the position of the lump her ability to be able to remove the tumour with the margins required was beyond her capabilities so suggested a referral to Davies veterinary specialists centre would better serve Cyrus's needs.  This was all arranged and on the 3rd of March we attended the centre in Hitchin for a consultation with Ronan Doyle who is one of their surgeons.  After subsequant in depth examination of the tumour he also doubted his ability to remove the tumour with acceptable margins.  After consultation with one of his collegues, an oncology specialist it was suggested that amputation would be the only way to insure sufficient margins at this time.  He suggested that our own veterinary practice would be able to carry out the surgery and he telephoned our vet to pass on the relevant information and his suggestions as to the extent of the surgery required.  

On returning home we contacted our practice and the surgery was booked for the following Tuesday 11 March. Although our vet would have carried out the surgery at our request alternative paths to follow were explained in detail and we were allowed untill the day before the surgery was due to come to a decision on how we wanted to procede.  One of the alternatives was to leave well alone to allow Cyrus to live out his life keeping the leg and shoulder, closely monitoring him for any serious signs of change.  

As the Tumour is painless and Cyrus being a happy playful dog and the fact that he has only just managed to become fully accepted in all the antics of play with the other dogs it seemed a shame to rob him of this and take a chance on how quickly he would recover and resume his position in the pack.  Taking these factors into account and the fact that he may well have a shorter life at least keeping the leg would ensure the continuation of this happy demeanor.  On the Friday before the surgery was due we phoned the vet to cancel the surgery and were quite reassured when the vets whole heartedly agreed that we had come to the right decision.

We now just have to make the best of whatever time we are fortunate enough to enjoy with Cyrus and try not to dwell too much on what may lay ahead.