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The following is a note written to Shylo's foster mom, and now shared with the entire RAGOM family:
It’s with great sadness that I tell you that our beloved Shylo passed away. After a very brief battle with cancer, we said goodbye the day after Thanksgiving. It all happened so fast. We noticed his breathing was a little labored on Thanksgiving day. It progressively got a little worse the next day. We took him to the vet, they x-rayed him and noticed large mass around his heart. It was causing his breathing to get worse by the hour. They didn’t recommend surgery and instead recommended euthanasia that day. It was a huge shock. The entire family was holding him when he died. We all cried together, devastated. I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to tell you. Maybe it’s that it makes me so sad to think about it, even 4 months later, much less write about it. He meant so much to all of us. We loved him very much and he loved us back. We are very grateful for you loving him before we did and for RAGOM making it possible for us to welcome him to our family. Awhile ago, I did write a few sentences about our time with him (please see below). I’ve also included some photos so you can see how much he meant to the life of our family. In August 2007, a fateful trip was taken to Iowa to meet someone who would become a full-fledged member of our young family. Shylo, the most mellow golden retriever “mix" on the Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota’s dating-style website came home with us to Minnesota. His role in our family started right away, entertaining our son with his very sloppy kisses, providing himself as a model for our daughter's dress-up plays, and giving our other daughter someone to talk to and hug when she needed it most. For more than seven years he was a constant companion for us, but he was so much more. The days we shared with him marked nearly every birthday, holiday, family outing, road trip, boat ride and quiet walk. We wove our lives together as a family with him. A few days ago, we said a final goodbye to our dear brother and friend. It’s impossible to describe how much we’ll miss him. In this season of giving thanks for everything that we share together, we’re grateful for the life we lived with Shylo. We’ve all gone through some pretty sad times without him, but our kids and my wife have started to ask about when we can adopt a new dog. We’ve even started looking at the RAGOM website lately. It’s really tough for me to look at that website, but it’s the right thing to do. Kids need dogs in their lives and dogs need kids. Thanks again for all you’ve done for us. We are forever grateful. Sincerely, Mark
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Napping in the sun, or hiding from the puppy? 
This was taken after Shylo realized that even though 3 of the puppies left...one was still staying. 
Shylo and Ella sharing the water dish...what a gentleman you are Shy!
