Sad News - Lance was diagnosed with liver cancer in March, 2005.  He was gently helped to cross the Rainbow Bridge on 6-07-2005.  He was very much loved & will be missed by all who knew him.

His Mom & Dad have shared these pictures taken of him during the months before he went to the Bridge.  One of his favorite outings was to go to the beach where he loved to play in the water.

Lance had 18 wonderful months in his new home where he was loved & spoiled as he deserved to be.  Now he runs & plays with the other animals at the Bridge as he waits for his people to join him.  Some happy day they will all enter the Kingdom together.

Lance's Story

Lance came to live at the Sanctuary in April, 2003.  A caring ACO at a DFW area shelter called us to see if we could possible make room for a sweet 9 year old neutered male terrier mix whose owner had surrendered him because he tinkled in the house!  Her shelter was not a no-kill-shelter & Lance was on the short list.  Lance settled in with the senior girls & the cats upstairs & never had an accident in the house after the first day.  Stress will do that to the best of them. One day in November we got an email from a nice retired couple who had seen Lance on our website.  He was just the dog they had been looking for.  Several email exchanges later, they were in their motorhome making the 600 mile trip up to get him.

His new mom recently sent this letter:

Hi, Carole,

Lance is doing fine.  He loves his yard.  This morning he was out following John and me around, prancing, running, just having a grand old time.  All the cats were following him, following us.  It was really cute.  The guineas chased him a little cause they know that he's not a regular around here.  They're really funny.  Anyway, Lance is now beside me in his bed getting ready to take a nap because he has had a terribly busy morning checking things out.  He seems so happy to be able to be outside.  We just love him, Carole, and you know we'll take good care of him.

Joyce & John

UPDATE - New Year, 2004

       All is well here.  Our Lance is such a sweetheart and we love him dearly.  He loves bananas and carrots and lots of healthy things. 

Lance just loves to run and he is even putting up with all my hugs and kisses.  He doesn't really have a choice, but he seems to be okay with it as long as I don't overdo. 

The other day John was in the outside yard and Lance was in the inside yard.  John was standing by the porch talking on the phone and Lance could see him but couldn't get to him because of the fence.  Well, he started to cry because he couldn't get to John, and I thought, he's home and he loves us.  Tell the girls he says "Hi" but he wouldn't want to be anyplace else but here with us.  The cats love him and are always rubbing up against him.  One of our cats grabs him by the neck to play but Lance doesn't care for that and lets him know.  We love it when he barks because Maui almost never barked and this way we know he wants something or something isn't right.  When he's in the house and not sleeping, he follows us back and forth.  We got him a cast iron Dachshund food dish holder so he can't knock his food and water over.  Of course, he still knocks his dry food over, but what the heck.

Anyway, just wanted to check in and tell you that things couldn't be better for our little guy.  We are so happy to have him.  When you see him run, it's so hard to believe he's 10. 

Love, Joyce, John and Lance