"Cherokee"
CH
Wayeh's Cherokee Brave CGC TDI TT
CH
Kiwaliks Vykon Indiana Jones TT CD
ROM "Indy"
X Wayeh Needa Mist
TT ROM OB-ROM "Wayeh"
3/4/88 - 6/2/00
Breeder/Owner/Handler Billie Stewart
He'd been sick on and off for months.
We'd tried different meds, bought a fan for him to lay under, prayed a
lot. The week before he died, we'd almost put him down, but he bounced
back, seemed to be doing well... This dog meant more to me than he
should have. He was a dog that got me started in Malamutes, that
began my love affair with Wayeh Malamutes.
He loved kids, he loved other dogs, males and females, he loved
puppies. This was a generous dog with a heart as large as all outdoors.
It was an odd twist
of fate that I waited and waited for a Cherokee daughter, and had to "settle"
for a granddaughter, named for him, my darling "Summer" A. And then I inherited the kennel when Billie died, and brought
Cherokee home with us to Tennessee along with the other Wayeh Malamutes...
So loosing him a year later was like loosing Billie all over again.
Posted to the lists on the day of his
death:
The old man was in with me all day until
about an hour ago when he asked to be let out -- went to the door and banged
with his big demanding foot. He went outside and laid down under
the azaleas under the kitchen windows, his cool spot, personally excavated.
I noticed something was wrong because his daughter "Justice" IABCA-INT
Vet CH Wayeh's Just Before the Dawn, CGC (all the
dogs in the back kennels) was laying at the gate, staring at one spot,
with her chin on her feet. It was silent in the kennels when I found
him.
After 12 years and 3 months, Cherokee had laid down and gone to sleep.
Cherokee was a therapy dog with Billie Stewart
at the Jail where she counseled the prisoners twice a week. He goes
with me to rescue fundraisers and breed info booths and lets the kids "maul"
him. He recently sired a litter (accidentally, naturally, and with a grin on
his face, too, at 11 years, 11 months of age). Known for making friends
inside and outside the show ring, he also had this "gift" of picking puppies
out of litters and raising them -- usually MALE puppies.
As a baby, he lived with his littermate brother
"Buffy" Wayeh's
Walasi Buffalo and then his uncle Lazerus Wayeh. As an adult Cherokee picked his nephew "Shony" Wayeh's
Shoshone Sunwalker out of the whelping box -- literally! and raise
him until Shoney was 2 years old. Shoney being a long-coat, never
finished, but he produced "Shadow" AKC/IABCA-INT
CH Wayeh's Arctic Wind's Shadow,
CGC, TT, TDI (Billie's favorite who we lost tragically young
3 months after loosing Billie!). Shad-Lad and Cherokee lived together until
Shadow was 2 years old.
As an example of Cherokee's management "style,"
if Cherokee and Shadow were
turned out in the yard together and Shadow was in a prime spot. Instead
of confronting Shadow, Cherokee would go into an opposite corner and find
something just fascinating, absolutely irresistible, and start playing
with it. Shadow couldn't resist and he would come over to see what
it was. Cherokee would toss it, Shadow would chase it, and Cherokee
would go get the prime spot to lie in.
But the strangest of his roomies was the Miller, an intact male Whippet
Then Cherokee chose Shadow's daughter, my
"Summer"
AKC/IABCA-INT CH Wayeh's Cherokee Summer, CGC,
WTD, out of the whelping box (stole her
like a thief in the night is more likely, and Billie called me in a a panic!)
and Summer came here. By the time Summer was bred, we had lost Billie
and Cherokee (and the others) came to live here. Cherokee ambled
into the whelping room, sniffed the litter over and grabbed my "Tom
T." National Jr/National CH Wayeh's
Tom-Tom of SnowSong, CGC, WTD, WLD, AMCA/IWPA-WWPD by the head
(not the scuff, the entire head) and met my eyes directly and walked out
with him. So he chose Tom T. as well.
The final choice he's made is from his own
(and last litter) bred at age 11 years and 9 months to "Hope" U-CD Wayeh's
I Believe In Hope, CGC, TDI, WPD. We called
it the Miracle Litter, we didn't dare to believe... Cherokee laid
at the whelping room door during the whelp and whined the entire time.
Five fat wiggling puppies.
We will miss you, Cher-Cher, Kisses for Billie.
--Sidney
Helen Sachs
Tribute from Susie Richardson:
Billie Stewart was a long distance friend
of mine. Cherokee and my Dakota are only a few months apart in age (Kota
is older). So this has hit me hard. When I'm hurting, I write. So this
is for Billie. I know she can't read it... then maybe none of us "knows"
what she can see or hear or read. So Billie, this is for you.
The day you left Earth and headed for the
Rainbow Bridge, the old man Cherokee must have had his heart break in two.
He must have been counting the days, but he had some things he had to do
first. He had to stick around and give Sidney a miracle litter, so that
she could carry on with Wayeh and he had to raise those puppies and see
them off to their new homes before he could rest his tired old head. Then
in the same elegant style that he had lived his 12.3 years on Earth, he
simply went to his favorite spot, laid down and went to sleep. Or so it
would seem to Earthly eyes.
But our hearts know better. Tonight the Bridge
is again alive with joy. Cherokee is with you again, Billie. I wish I could
have just one small glimpse of what that must have been like. That big
seal dog running out of the clouds, air puffing from his nostrils, grin
spreading across his face... I bet he ran smack into your knees and took
you down for the count, just so he could smother your face with wet kisses.
I cannot think of a single better way for
Cherokee to end his short time on Earth, than to simply lay down under
the Azaleas and close his eyes. It's what you would have wanted for him,
that much I know. In fact, I'm sure it was your request, that HE should
have an easy passing, to make up for the horrible one you suffered yourself.
More than that, I'm as sure as I can be, that you would choose to take
the painful end, so that he could drift away
peacefully. To everything there is balance.
Cherokee's quiet sleep is proof.
This is very hard for me. My old guy is so
close to Cherokee's age, only two months separates them. So many of Kota's
"kin" are gone now. His half brothers, Tongass and Tuffy already wait at
the Bridge. His mother, Mookie, and daughters Kenna and Inde; sons Saks
and North also wait there for him. Cherokee's passing has made my ear twinge
in the direction of the Bridge and I can hear them calling to my old guy.
I pray for such a gentle end as your Cherokee
had. They deserve this. HE deserved it. So tonight, here on Earth, I pray
for more time with mine. More than Sidney had with yours. Watch over her,
Bill; she loves you so.
Your friend, Suz
Wayeh
Alaskan Malamutes
