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NorthWapiti's Butch Cassidy, SD
August 12, 1994 - February 27, 2007
This time of year seems to be jinxed for us. Almost exactly a year
ago, Striker unexpectedly passed away, two years ago Howl and Spud
died while I was up in Alaska.
This year the Geriatrics had looked so good when I left, I couldn't
imagine tragedy striking again. However, last night I got an email
from Mark telling me to phone him because he 'had some bad news'.
Yesterday morning Butch had a stroke and had to be put down.
Although he was the oldest dog in our yard, we were both caught off
guard by his passing. He had been having a great winter - happy with
his 'harem' (Joey, Jumper and Camilla), bouncing and acting like a
puppy whenever you walked into his pen. Mark said he was even like
that on Monday night.
In our kennel and lives, Butchie will always be a legend. A big,
strong, beautiful, hard driving dog - I've believed for years that
he was one of the finest Siberian Huskies we have ever produced. He
was pointed in the show ring - although he HATED that and made it
clear that that was not his calling in life. He was a finisher of a
whole lot of races, including the Iditarod. Running was his calling.
Butch didn't know how to slack off or quit. He was a force of
nature.
He had a total lack of respect for rules, was never serious about
anything, and threw himself into tasks he loved with total abandon.
At 12 ½, he acted like the biggest puppy in the yard. We all could
have taken lessons from Butch on how to live.
The other thing he did exceeding well (and often) was sire litters -
often without our blessing. You never turned your back on The Boy
for a second when he was near a female, but any litter sired by
Butch was a good litter.
He was blessed with the ability to produce offspring as good, if not
better then himself - a trait many 'great dogs' lack.
Notable dogs in our kennel sired by Butch are - Draco, Orion, Surge,
Squeaky, Barq, Dasher, and Sprite.
To say he will be missed just doesn't begin to cover it.
Karen
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