Note - You may notice this is not a bicycle....

Doug had mentioned that he was putting a custom Jen Green headbadge on his "in process"/hope-it-comes-someday Matt Chester 29er/fixee/SS/cross bike (now, which Gallery will that go into?) in memory of his great Boxer cross dog that died unexpectedly in November. We traded some emails and at my urging, he forwarded these two photos and description of his companion. Since he doesn't yet have photos of the bicycle, I decided to use the 80th spot in the Gallery for him. I may develop a "Dog Portrait" section of the site, but not tonight.

Anyway, I'm a sucker for a good dog story, especially one which involves a rescue dog.
-- Jim

His name was Cosmo and he was from the pound in Hillsboro, OR. He was clearly part Boxer, his mother I would guess, as he had a docked tail and dewclaws removed. I speculate that the owners thought the puppies were purebred as he probably looked about right. He had the underbite and thick upper lip, but more muzzle than a purebred. He was full grown but young when we got him in 1995 so he was probably 11-12 years old. That isn't really dying young for a 90lb. dog but it was due to some kind of complications following surgury to remove a big tumor from his leg :^( Anyway, here are a couple pictures that I have handy, one in the prime of life and one when he was elderly but still holding up well. The thing that was so great about him was that he was middle aged before ever living with kids (we'd had him 5 years when my oldest daughter was born) and he couldn't have been any better with the girls. The dog we still have is even older, 14-15 but under 20lbs so doesn't seem as old. He used to get snippy with the kids if they bugged him, but has mellowed.

Doug

dvancleve@gmail.com