Our fortunes have been mixed in the last few months. On the bad side, on July 17th our wonderful best buddy Toby passed away from a congenital disease "thrombocytopenia". This is an auto-immune disease which attacks Cockers (and a few other breeds) between the ages of six and seven. Toby was just over six when he was afflicted. On Saturday we noticed a problem and just twenty four hours later he was gone. We miss Toby very much. Here is a photo of the Tobester riding in the Bridges of the Butte 24 Hour Townie Tour, a fundraiser for the Adaptive Sports program. Toby rode twenty laps (32 miles) around town to support the cause.
Two months later we found a beautiful black female American Cocker who we have named Ceilidh (pronounced "KAY-lee"). This is a Gaelic (Irish/Scottish) word meaning a party or an informal gathering of friends for dancing, singing, and telling stories. We think of her as our own personal party. She is just nine weeks old and seems to enjoy herself at FlyingCracker headquarters. We are introducing her to all our friends - if you haven't yet met Ceilidh feel free to call and come over to visit. So far she gets along swimmingly with other dogs, big and small, and all sorts of people, big and small. Here she is settling in with the FlyingCracker staff. Ceilidh is a wonderfully well-adjusted puppy, although her tendency to be full of energy at 6 am is a bit tiresome. We think Toby would approve of our new addition.
