Her first problem was that she was allergic to the food we had on hand for Yuki-chan and it took us several weeks to find out that food was the cause of her skin rash. We finally switched her to a special (and expensive!) brand of non-allergic food - Duck and Potato was her favorite - for about six months. We gradually put her back on the regular food and she tolerated it just fine after that.
After a month or so we noticed that her left front leg looked swollen around the elbow. The vet took an X-ray and told us it had been damaged, probably by getting hit by a car or something. We called the breeder and she denied any knowledge anything, which is not surprising. We suspect she might have gotten mauled by another dog at the puppy farm that we bought her from.
As she got older, the leg problem became more and more pronounced, and by the time she was a year old it was very clear she had a problem. When she was around four years old our vet had us take her to a special clinic for an evaluation, and they told us that there still wasn't anything they could do for her. But even so, she was just as frisky as could be and could still run almost as fast as Yuki.
One of her other problems was that she was incontinent. We asked the vet about this early on, and the vet said there wasn't anything they could do about it. So we wound up with plastic mats with "pee towels" on top of them scattered around the house, and also a big supply of doggie diapers for her. The funny thing about her was that she would actually pee on command. We would open the door and tell her to go outside and pee, and she'd run out and let it fly. Then come running back in with a big grin on her face.
But in spite of her problems, Sachiko was the happiest puppy I've ever seen. She and Yuki-chan were the best of friends, and taking them for a walk or a romp in the woods together was a joy to behold. The two girls used to love to have mock wrestling matches, and Yuki would always "fall down", which was an invitation for Sachiko to pounce on her. My favorite memory of them playing together is perfectly captured in this photo, which I've called "The Sneak Attack".
You can just see the unbridled joy on Sachiko's face as she moves in for "the kill", while Yuki-chan is feigning complete surprise at the pending attack.
If Sachiko could have spoken, her trademark phrase would have been, "To The Max!". Everything she did was done with extreme enthusiasm and joy. We used to call her "Bobble-Head" for the way she was constantly bobbling her head around, always on the lookout for something interesting happening.
Sachiko was very intellegent as well. One of our favorite tricks was that I could get her to bark just by looking at her in a special way. Nobody else know how to give her that look, but when I did it she would immediately sit and let out a "Burf!" for me.
Sachiko left us on November 27th, 2010, at the tender age of only five years old. She had started whimpering during the night and when we got up in the morning we found her abdomen was bloated. We called the emergency clinic and they told us to get her there immediately. But by the time we got her to the clinic, it was too late. The vet told us that it was a twisted stomach, and that it had probably started after she ate dinner the night before. The emergency vet told us that having gone through the entire night, her body had already started shutting down. We had to give her some last hugs and kisses, and then had to say goodbye. She passed peacefully as the pain left her body.
Sachiko had so many problems during her life, but she was the sweetest girl imaginable. We feel so blessed that we were able to have her for only the five years we got, and are so grateful that we were the lucky ones that she came to be with. She would do anything to make you smile. She had a golden heart.
Sachi's baby portrait