My sister in law had Rye starting in 2000. He was five then. When we would visit he would always come over to see me. Four years later and going through a divorce she had to get rid of one of her dogs and I chose Rye. We had him four years and four months. Over that time he had three operations for anal gland cancer. He survived the first two and had a great life. While he lived through the third it could not be cured and we finally let him go on 12/30/2008. I never really had a dog before, I lived in houses with two dogs over my life but they were not mine. I used to tell Rye that he was my only doggie. I told him that on his final day and that I would never have another.
He was "Our Magnificant Boy."

On December 30, 2008 we sent our Old Doggie Rye to Dog Heaven. We got him in the early fall of 2004 from my sister-in-law. He had been with her for some time and had sired several litters. Right after we got him the Vet discovered a mass in his anal gland. He recommemded castration as a possible cure which we did. A year and a half it was back and the vet told me it was hopeless. We went to a holistic vet who tried treatment for awhile then surgery in March of 2006. He was cancer free as far as we could tell until November 2008. It had retured to the gland and as we discovered another tumor had developed in the area. A new vet thought she could get the tumor out but it did not work and as he became more unconfortable we let him go. He died in our house with my wife holding him and both of us petting him.