Since most do not speak Italian, the title states “Our Light Went Out Forever”. Today was the absolute worst day of my life. I do not know how to even start here. Our precious Luce left this world today. Stacey and I held him and talked to him and kissed him and loved on him until well after he drew his final breath. His life was lost after a very short and hidden battle with cancer. He only showed signs that something was not quite right 4-1/2 days before he passed, when he didn’t eat much for breakfast. He was a chow hound so this was very unsual and alarming. He was also drinking much more water then usual and having to go out to pee more as well. We took him to the vet and they found nothing after an exam, ultrasound, and blood tests. The picture below is where I found him after making scrambled eggs for him to eat since he didn’t eat in the morning. He got up and ate all of the eggs right there in the shower which made me feel a little encouraged. In the late afternoon his nose started bleeding so we rushed him to the emergency vet. His platelet count was through the floor and below the point that spontaneous internal bleeding could occur. Additionally he had a 105 degree fever which was likely why he was laying in the shower as it was cool. At that point, there was no time for anything else to be done to save his life as his system was already shutting down and the bleeding would not stop.
Rest in peace our Baby Bear! We will NEVER, EVER forget you!
AKC: Racevision’s Echo Luce Il Cane Bellissimo or “Luce” born to this world March 23rd, 2017, arrived in our arms May 18th, 2017, departed this earth October 3rd, 2024.
When we were walking today, there was a woman walking a few hundred yards behind us that had a similar shape as Stacey. Luce kept looking back and I had to keep calling him forward. At the end of the walk, he took his usual rest at the top of the driveway where this picture was taken. What I didn’t realize was that the woman finally caught up to us and Luce could’t help himself and went to her. I was a short distance away and told here that he is friendly. He quickly realized that it wasn’t Stacey and came back to me.
We finally replaced the white dining room carpet with something more “berner friendly”. It is much more padded that the old carpet and Luce definitely prefers it. Additionally, it is near impossible to see the fur he leaves behind.
We returned to the same lake house on Lake Murray where we stayed last summer. Luce still thinks the lake is his personal water bowl so we had to make sure he was watched closely when he went down to the waters edge. He did go in up to his chest which cooled him down a little considering the water temperature was kinda warm. All in all we had a great time.
Luce still likes to take in the sights and more importantly, smells, when we take his out for a ride. When possible, we cruise slowly so he can fully take it all in. Above 25MPH he tends to duck back in the car so we have been a rolling roadblock on a few occasions when I didn’t notice someone following us.
As I mentioned, Luce does not like the water so there is no chance he would go in. A funny thing he does is when I go in the pool, he stays as close to me as possible when I swim. Of course he does not try to come in, but will be right there on the side of the pool. today, after I swam across a few times and he paced me, he decided to rest in his own lounge chair.
The day after Luce gets groomed which usually happens every 3 weeks, he gets brushed to remove loose fur. All of this would have been in the house so it’s much better to have it outside. He does not seem to mind which based on the fact that he does not like being warm, makes sense. I sent this picture to a friend that asked me if Berner’s shed much and they were amazed.
When Luce was a baby he absolutely loved getting kisses. As he got older, not so much. This became a game that Stacey would play with him. She would threaten to give him kisses and he would protest with playful squeals. His tail would wag so he seems to have liked “playing along”.
Today, I told Luce to “stay” so I could take care of something in the yard. When I was done and came back, he had decided to “down” himself in place which was nice and cool in the shade.
This is a site dedicated to the best dogs ever. Of course we are referring to Bernese Mountain Dogs. Obviously this is an extremely biased opinion but we don’t care, this is our site.
