Our oldest dog, Otto, died on 16 May at the vet clinic. He was a little over 16 years old.

Otto at age 12. He charmed everyone he met.

He had a strong will to survive and managed to outlive five of our other pets. Always self-confident, he had no trouble accepting a new dog in the house and never showed any resentment when a newcomer received a lot of attention.

Otto was a tough little guy who endured several surgical procedures without so much as a whimper. In recent years, he became deaf and blind but he didn't let that get him down, either. Somehow, despite the blindness, he managed to find his way around the house and could make his way through two pet doors to go outside when nature called.

About a year ago he was diagnosed as having diabetes but did very well on a strict diet and two, later three, shots of insulin every day. But in May he began having what were probably epileptic siezures, which quickly became more frequent. After a weekend of intensive care at the vet clinic it was clear that further treatment wouldn't do any good.

Otto gave us a tremendous amount of pleasure over the years and he'll be sorely missed.