I got Lil from a friend of mine up in Colorado. Her sire was an outstanding animal and I wanted a pup as soon as I heard that a liter was on the way. Eric, the breeder, selected a fine dog for me and I drove from Arizona to Colorado to pick Lil up when she was old enough. She didn't like being separated from her litter, but she survived the drive.
I got her home and she met Dena and Astro, who didn't care for her at all. The old crazy dogs kept Lil as the bottom dog of the pack until the day that they died. Lil was smaller and the crazy dogs thrashed her whenever they got a chance. I'd let Lil sit up on the passenger floorboards of the car when we went out for a drive, otherwise Astro and Dena would threaten her with violence in the back seat.
Eventually, the crazy dogs got old and died. It broke my heart, but Lil enjoyed being an only child. We went hunting and camping. She was almost always with me. She became a very good dog over the years, a once in a lifetime kind of dog. I decided to breed her and went up to Ash Fork to buy a sire for her pups. The male is a goofy fellow by the name of Jess.
Lil proved impossible to breed. She would not accept Jess, or any other stud while she was in heat. I understand that Brittanys tend to be difficult to breed, but I held out hope. My veternarian suggested artificial insemination and as she got older I started to think seriously about it.
One day a friend was giving Lil a belly rub and she said "Come take a look at this. Lil has a lump". Sure enough, she had a mass around her rear teats. The vet said "Don't worry-even if it's canine mammary cancer, that's usually not very aggressive". About a month later, I buried Lil in the back yard. She was carrying a litter of pups, but they weren't developed enough to survive a c-section.
Now, it's just me and Jess. He's a great dog. Lil had been top dog, but now he's the only dog and he likes his new status. We go everywhere together. He's a little more outgoing than Lil and he makes friends with other dogs and people better than she did. Their pups would have been outstanding dogs.
Rest in peace, San Tan Lil. January 6, 1997 to December 25, 2005.
Click here to go to the webpage dedicated to my dogs.