Sir Warwick
(January 20, 1980 – December 29, 1991)
This darling black Miniature Schnauzer was ‘ours’ at long last one fine day in March of 1980. He came with all the grand papers of ‘good line and pure breed’ and we set out to name him. We chose Sir Warwick, after a Parish in Bermuda of which the Jones Family has many ties.
Warwick was a love and great protector from the beginning. We often thought he was part human beingJ He actually could smile in a silly grin showing his upper teeth, and he loved to dance with me. He always wanted to be included in our family hugs and kisses and he gave the longest cheek kisses of any dog I’ve ever owned. Wherever he went, he was noticed. He was quite handsome (and knew it) for he had great conformation and a true black coat. He probably would have been groomed as a show dog but he was ¼ inch too high. He didn’t care. He was agile and strong, a great runner and swimmer, and king of the house.
Now a Miniature Schnauzer’s life span on the average is 12 to 14 years. We noticed in his 9th year that he wasn’t as able to jump up on the bed so easily and that his gate was slightly different in his back legs. Those changes, along with a few gray hairs showing in his coat, led us and vet to think it was just age. Nothing seemed wrong, but something was different. His check ups were always fine. We just attributed it to getting older and never thought much more about it. Warwick was always cheerful and energetic and never sick.
The 29th of December 1991, my husband noticed Warwick was laying down under
a small palm tree in our back yard an unusually long length of time. He went
out to check. Warwick couldn’t get up and was panting and shaking and
then rolled on his side. By the time we dashed him to the vet, it was too
late.
To cross off the thought of an insect bite, the vet did an autopsy and found
that Warwick had internal bleeding; it was cancer of the liver. We wished
then and are hopeful now that your organization can find a blood test to detect
cancer that could be given to pets during a yearly check up if something “just
doesn’t seem right”.
Thank you for beginning this quest.
Sincerely,
Lora Jones