Tanner was adopted from the Denver Dumb Friends League shelter March 15th of 2003 at roughly eight weeks of age. The best guess was that he was a golden / husky mix. That worked for us...we called him our "golden husky." With that thick coat he loved the outdoors, loved getting up into the mountains. Right off the bat we were up in the mountains of Colorado together, fishing and hiking. As he got older he started carrying a pack as we went on backpacking trips...he would carry his food and my fishing gear up....and the garbage out. He loved hanging out by the campfire at night. Trying to fish in the alpine lakes of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana was a little challenging with him constantly swimming out in front of me. It was worth it because he was so photogenic, I think I took more pictures of him in our nine years together than all four of my children combined. 

The cancer diagnosis came like a shock....as it turned out we only had ten days until the end. We made everyone count, and thanks to Dr. Cooney, Tanner got to pass away with painless dignity...and we were allowd all the time we needed at her center to start the grieving process. We look forwards to the time this summer when Tanner's ashes will go back up to the mountains where they belong.