Hersey

​“Hershey was a 2013 alum of SEGSP Rescue. I’d recently discovered the breed and was searching for a running buddy… thankfully I stumbled upon SEGSP and was hooked when I read his bio. My sister and I picked him up from Laura in Chattanooga and he immediately became part of the family. We ran almost nightly after work together, and he even did some 5-12k races with me over the years. He was the biggest baby - loved to cuddle, wouldn’t go to sleep without being tucked in with his blanket, and would ‘cry-breathe’ when you weren’t giving him enough attention (heaven forbid you try to clean the house or get some work done - he needed ear scratches!!). When Daniel and I met, he was the first person Hershey ever allowed to come close to me without barking his displeasure. I think it was the treats being passed out behind my back! He loved our friends who visited, but also made it clear when it was time for them to go home by dramatically flopping down on his bed with his back to the party. He was our old man even early on, keeping us on a tight 5 AM breakfast schedule by stomping next to the bed until someone responded appropriately. 

Before Daniel and I married we bought a house with a great fenced backyard, perfect for Hershey and his love of squirrel/bunny/bee/bird stalking as well as sunbathing in our raised garden bed. Despite our best efforts, Hershey also loved to go for an unscheduled run every now and then. He had a knack for sneaking out at the holidays and between the legs of friends and family taking care of him for a weekend. Often I’d get a phone call from a new ‘friend’ Hershey had made down the street - stealing tennis balls from their pups and plopping down on a sunny front porch to take a break after his romp through the neighborhood. Once he was even caught by a middle school football team at practice! 

Last week he had some small growths removed, and everything seemed to go smoothly. A few days later his appetite disappeared and his breathing became labored. We took him to the overnight vet and thought pneumonia, but later scans showed what we think now was a tumor bleeding in his esophagus or lungs. He hid any illness or discomfort from his cancer from us as long as he could, even hiking 5 miles with me the day before his surgery and making his first puppy friend, a 150-lb Newfoundland belonging to my cousin. He always had a sassy, sneaky streak that when we saw it, we said he was being a punk. We saw his sweet side, and also his playful, sassy side on his last day, and he said goodbye to us before we went to the emergency vet, in his favorite place, our backyard. While he must have been sick for a while, he only put us through it for a very short time. He passed on Friday, October 15 and will not be forgotten. “
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“Remember me and smile, for it’s better to forget than to remember me and cry.” Dr. Seuss