Tank

 

Tank with kids soon after arrival in 2013 - immediate hit with family!

Tank died on Tuesday and it has been a hard few days.  He has been a part of the family since March 2013 and we desperately miss him.  Every morning even Brewster has been looking around for Tank.  Tank is the happiest dog I've ever known and his happiness was infectious. He'd just stare at you with happy eyes and it would make you feel good. And I think he too fed off of our happiness.  There was nothing quite like the Tankie trot as he lead out in front of you on a hike - hard to describe but the back legs pistonned up and down and his tail went back and forth, and everything wobbled side to side. His 4 legged happiness trot.

The good thing is that he never had to be unhappy because of his health.  This Fall we did notice that he was slowing down and I suspected something like cancer, but it had not really effected him yet.  He was still climbing mountains up until last week.  And on Tuesday he was doing the Tankie 'two step' dance for his food in the morning.  But in the afternoon he did not want his food and he collapsed when we took him for his walk.  We took him immediately to the vet and found out that he had a cancer on his spleen that had burst inside of him - there was nothing we could do.  

Good old Tank.  He loved to sleep by Stuey's head and Stuey would use him as a pillow.  At night he loved to put his head by mine and I could hear him wheezing.   When Aubrey first picked him up for us at the Anchorage Walmart he smelled of cigarette smoke.  Nora had found him on Craig's List (click here for blogpost) - a family in Stirling was moving to the lower 48, and the family grandparents drove him to Anchorage for pickup.  I always wondered how a family could have willingly parted from Tank.  And it was clear that he had been well-loved even before he joined our family.  

On arrival he did not even know how to swim!  And at Abercrombie he was frightened to cross over the walking bridges.  The first couple times he ran around them.  And we had to teach him how to swim - the first time he just splashed vertically in the water and sank!  But he came to love water, and one of his favorite activities was fetching sticks thrown out in the water.

We miss him but he will always be in our hearts.

Patrick

Tank on his last climb on Pyramid with Stuey in late October 2020

September 2020 berry picking trip on Pyramid

Tank on an alpine lake last Friday - his last long hike

Last picture I ever took of Tank - Pillar Mountain Saturday evening

My first picture with Tank - still smelling go cigarette smoke - at Aubrey's house in Anchorage March 2013

Tank protecting Stuey from the night demons - 2013

The original black pack - Roxy (closest), Tank (far), and Jake - March 2013

Tank and Roxy at Abercrombie - March 2013

Tank and Stuey - Heaven on Earth 2013

Brewster and Tank - 2019

Happy dog on Abercrombie walk with Brewster

Tank just a hanging on my lap - the 'belly up' pose

The black pack 'remix' - Tank, Sheba and Jake

Final pack - Brewster, Tank and Sheba

Early days - Jake and Tank on a Spruce Cape hike

Skiing with the pack on Pyramid

Begging for leftovers at a firepit barbecue

Fetch! Sheba, Tank and Jake

Brewster, Sheba and Tank