In Memory

Harley

My beautiful Harley passed away on Sunday May 4 th he was almost 15 years old. He was my best friend, my family and I loved him so much.

Our story together begins February 1993. I was watching a cable show at the time where they featured some animals at the Toronto Humane Society. He was featured on the show along with another dog named Sammy. I was living at home at the time, so I grabbed my mother and off we went to the THS. When we arrived the staff was great and really helped us get the right dog for us. He was 6 months old and had been found 2 months earlier. Well I feel in love with him and that was it. He came home with us and our journey together began.

He was with me all through my formative years. He moved out with me to my first apartment, was with me when I got married, our first house and last year when we started our family. I will always remember when I met my husband I told him we were a package deal and came together.

Harley loved to go for walks, play ball, go in the car and was always at the front door waiting for me to come home. He never asked for anything and he gave me so much. He was always there and I miss him terribly.

He was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy last summer which is common for his breed German Shepherd / Collie mix. We tried a variety of things to make him more comfortable as his disease slowly disabled him to the point at which he couldn’t walk. We tried medication to water therapy to finally the trial medication. Harley tried to stay with us through all of this and we loved him for that. It was a tough decision that we struggled with for some time, but his quality of life wasn’t what he would have wanted.

We finally came to the decision that the best thing for Harley would be to show our love for him and give him the peace and dignity he deserved.

I would like to thank the Toronto Humane Society for rescuing him and bringing us together. He brought so much joy to everyone he met and I can’t tell you the number of times he was told how beautiful he was. Without the compassionate work that the THS does I would have missed out on so much joy and love that my beloved companion gave so freely. He will always be a part of my heart and I will always cherish our memories together.

Harley I miss you so much.

Tanya Roberts

Back to In Memory