Kyzyl Kum Oman Pascha

October 25th, 1994 - January 8th, 2008

GoodBye, Good Dog

When I took the above photo the morning of January 8th, I had no way of knowing that within half an hour, my darling Pascha would be gone. It warms my heart to know that my sweet boy received loving comfort from his young friend Kai before his passing. Pascha had been battling what we believed was kidney failure for about two weeks prior, growing slowly weaker and more ill as I syringe fed him, gave him subcutaneous fluids, and we tried to figure out just what was happening. I desperately tried to help him rally, but it was not meant to be. He passed away at home, in his favorite spot in the couch, with my daughter and myself at his side. He now runs and plays again with his beloved Dancer, who left us a mere ten months before.

As if losing our sweet "Good Dog" wasn't enough pain, we were hit the following morning by the death of our precious Pree.

As I chose to do with Dancer, and shall also do with Pree, rather than turn this page into an obituary, I will leave it "as is" to celebrate the life remembered. GoodBye, my Good Dog, you take my heart with you.

Me, age seven

I'm Pascha!

I'm a black fringed fawn Saluki, and I was born in California. I lived for almost two years in Santa Cruz, mostly with my breeders, Wendy and Brian. I'd been bought as a puppy by an older couple and was "just too much dog" for them. Wendy and Brian loved me lots and took really good care of me, but I'm small for a boy Saluki, and the other boys in the house picked on me a lot. When my mommy-Gayle's Saluki friend Jai passed away, Wendy thought that I'd like to come and live with Gayle and her family in New York. She was right. I love it here.

Gayle and her family always say how thankful they are that Wendy and Brian trusted them with such a wonderful and special boy. I guess that wonderful and special boy must be me!

My birthday: 10/25/1994

In early October of 1996, I got on a plane and flew from California to Albany New York. What a surprise I got when I got out of the airport and it was COLD outside! I'd never seen snow till that winter, and didn't know what to make of it. It seemed at first like I had flown to a different planet, not just a different state. I'm used to it now, though. I've got a warm couch, sleep in Mom and Dad's bed, and have my sister Dancer to keep me cozy in the winters.

My parents in California were Djinn and Djemma, and I had a lot of brothers and sisters from my litter. My litter sister Omaille, a black and white parti color, even took Winners Bitch at the Saluki National Specialty one year!

This picture to the side is me using Mom's computer. She is at the computer a lot, so I thought I would try it out and see what all the fuss is about.

Checking my e-mail

Pascha's sense of humor

A .wav file of Pascha Singing!

A happy guy

I have a great sense of humor and I love to do a lot of fun things. One thing Mom is really pleased about is that I love to sing. She says I don't always quite carry the tune, but she doesn't care. She loves to hear me sing. I will sing with any harmonica (or "mahnonica" as we call it), and I have a favorite song. When the song by the group America called "Lonely People" comes on, I run to the speakers and wait. There is one part where the man says "Hit it!" right before a mahnonica solo starts. As soon as he says "Hit it!" I start to sing

I will even sing when my people just say "Sing me a song, Pascha". It's my favorite thing to do. And if Mom asks for "The Mom Mom Song" I will change what I'm singing, and instead of howling, I will sing, "Oh Mom Mom Mom!" I speak English, too! And I do know what "Mom Mom" means ... or who "Mom Mom" means. That is my special song and word just for my Mom.

I'm a healer

My Mom has a thing in her head that makes her have seizures. She calls it epil-something or other. I just know that I know when one of her things is coming, and I take care of her while she's doing that. I lay across her or hold her down with my head, so that she does not try to get up and walk until she feels steady. Mom says that I am a "self-trained seizure dog", whatever that means. I just know that Mommy doesn't feel good sometimes, and I want to help. Dad grabbed the camera one day while I was helping Mom and took this picture. Dancer helps, too -- you can't see her here, but she is laying cuddled up with us, close to Mommy's head.

Taking care of Mommy

My Pedigree on PawVillage