Sweet Beth

Gracie was our first baby and the love of our life. We got her before we left for Japan. We spent countless hours walking her, playing fetch, and giving her tons and tons of petting. Gracie was incredibly expensive, breed from champion dog show stock.

Gracie eventually let us know that she wanted a friend. Someone that would play with her when we were busy.

Beth stole our heart from the first moment we saw her. She was the one. She has just enough sass to stand up against Gracie, the hugest heart to love the children we would eventually have and an adorable face that is impossible to say no to. Beth was a discount dog -- by Japan standards -- at $1,500. They gave us $100 off because she had a rash on her stomach, and another $200 off because her tail was broken and only half of it wagged when she was happy. We didn't care; she was worth every penny.

Unfortunately, it became apparently that Beth is probably the worst bred dog in all of Japan. I am NOT talking about her personality, but her physical traits. Clearly she has the mutant gene that has made her look like an eternal baby. She has a very weak bladder and must go out every four hours day and night. She is constantly suffering from open sores from the inside of her ears to the tip of her tail. They are especially bad on her feet and arms. Her ears are insanely dirty regardless of how much we clean them. It is one thing after another.

A while ago she got a really bad open sore on her back foot and couldn't stand to put pressure on it. Late at night we ended up taking her to a Japanese vet who diagnosed her with a skin rash and allergies. He gave her some medicine to carry her over until we could get to the vet on base.

Two days later she was seen again on base. They thought maybe she had ear mites and a skin disorder. They loaded us up with tons of skin creams, ear drops and pills for her bladder.

A few days later she started growing a tumor like thing over her eye. It got so bad that she could barely see. Then she started growing one above her other eye. Her initial rashes were getting better, but then she started growing open sores in other areas.

Back to the vet we went. This went ON and ON, OVER and OVER for the past few months.

She finally went back Wednesday and they did a biopsy on her foot to try to figure out once and for all what is wrong. We have three weeks to wait for the results to come in. Her foot is pretty tender where the stitches are, but other than that, she is in great spirits.

We are so sad for Beth. She is the most loving and caring pooch that a family could ask for, but I am also aware that she probably won't be with us for as long as we would like. This breaks my heart. I can't even imagine our lives without her. Watching Marley and Me only made things immensely worse. We are so grateful for the joy she has brought to our lives and hate to see her
in any sort of discomfort or pain.

Please keep little Beth in your thoughts and prayers as we await her results.