My Dear Friend... my Best Dogfriend...
Tanya from Cold Steel Pits has passed and left yet another huge hole in my heart.
She's been gone 2 weeks now and I still cannot believe it. Yesterday was her birthday, she would have been 36 years old. How could she have gone so young? Guess God needed another Angel... now you are gone my friend. She always did tell me she would die young.... guess you were right my friend. Just a couple days before the show I was at her house and I asked her for my collar back that she had borrowed... "I did it to mess with her"... I knew she wanted it for one of the dogs for the LA show. She told me... "CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE COLLAR AWAY AT MY LAST SHOW". I was like "YEAH RIGHT YOUR LAST SHOW". She told me " FOR REAL I AM DONE... I AM DONE WITH THE SHOWS... THIS IS MY LAST SHOW"...   She was overwhelmed and needed a break with the dogs... how ironic she would tell me this... It was indeed her last show. We saw eachother Thursday, talked Friday morning at 8:30am after she got off work, she was at the Beauty Shop getting her hair braided for the show. We talked for hours on the phone that Friday the 21st as she drove to the LA show, we talked about 4-5 times that Saturday, the day she passed, while she was at the show....  I was the last person to speak to her on the phone... just a couple minutes after we hung she had the attack. The person sitting next to her told me she hung up with me and minutes later it happened. My friend till the end... I guess that was God's way of giving me my last conversation with my friend the last minutes of her life. She had just told me she was tired and had pain all over from the trip and handling the dogs and not getting enough sleep...  I told her to relax and call me if she wins anything in the 2nd show and we said BYE.... those were my last words... my last words to my dear friend.

(Not that it's anyone's business, but she died because of her asthma,. The official Coroner's find "it was an asthma related death"...  and she did not die or collapse in the show ring as rumors indicate either. People please honor and respect her Memory).

With 12 years of Vet Tech experience at the University Of Florida Intensive Care Unit, Tanya taught many people many things... she taught us how to AI, how to draw blood and not blow a vein... how to staple on emergency situations and the list goes on... she had seen it all working in ICU and taught many dog people many things. We met 11 years ago at the ADBA dog shows and were really close friends the last 7 years... Our friendship had it's up and downs only a couple times in all the years..., like any "sisterhood" friendship we agreed to disagree and move on. We always knew we loved each other like sisters, we would always be there for each other and we could truly and without a shadow of a doubt trust each other...

When we were looking for new property we made sure we would be close to Tanya... Tanya and Rich helped us move our yard when we moved 4 years back... not an easy task with a yard full of bulldogs and 4 hours away, but she was there for me. Tanya helped put up all the fencing on our property. I will never forget we pulled up one day and there is Tanya working on the fencing for the DOG YARD... she was putting it up by herself. My husband and I were like TANYA ARE YOU CRAZY... That was a stupid question... the answer was YES. She wanted it done and wanted it done NOW. So she did it alone. That day she had a very close call... she had an asthma attack, we thought we were going to lose her and of course I felt all this guilt because she was putting up MY FENCING. Luckily she pulled through and was fine. Meeting shippers, meeting people with dogs... anything that had to do with the dogs we were there for eachother.....  Giving eachother advice on life... family issues, car troubles... house trouble.... finances....  Many people claim to be her "friend" now that she's gone...I know who were her "friends"... True friends she knew she could count with ONE HAND... the rest were simply "dog acquaintances"  I'm sure she's looking down laughing lol.

There's no one on this Earth I would trust with our dogs but Tanya. Many times we took care of her yard and her dogs and her pups... She did the same for us...  Like the day she left her Husband's daughters graduation to go see my dying Keena in the Intensive Care Unit at the Vet Hospital where she used to work. She went to Walmart and spent about $80 on Stuffed Toys and surrounded Keena with them around her Hospital Bed so when she woke up she would see them and not feel alone. How could I ever find another friend who would do that for me? I always told her I would never forget she did that for me... Keena meant everything to me and now her and Tanya are together... there's no one on this Earth I would rather have next to my Keena.

How I will miss you... our conversations about dogs, who will I talk to now for 3-4 hours at a time almost everyday...  Who will I talk to about dogs and compare notes about all the idiots who called us...  About our puppies, about what dog chewed what... about what new treat we bought or what new bed you were buying.... our LONG ASS emails.... all the links about dogs and BSL you would send me everyday.... our talks about life, about family... our laughs.... our tears... our joys... our fears..... all these years to remember... yet not enough time. Why does God take the good ones???? Can't believe your gone Tanya...    my best dogfriend.... gone... gone too soon.

For those who knew her, knew she was as tenacious as our bulldogs, with a heart of Gold like our Bulldogs. She was very independent and a Tom-Boy at heart... A funny, feisty lady... Strong willed and told it like it was.... She had a hard exterior, but a soft and sensitive inside those close to her knew... She would take the shirt off her back for her friends in a time of need. She lived, breathed and died BULLDOGS. The dogs were her passion, her mission, her reason for living. She was an ambassador of the breed... THE AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER... like no other person I have met. What a Great Loss to our Breed... To try to put into words what she did for the breed would be an injustice... to try to put into words how much she loved the breed would be an injustice. Those who knew her... JUST KNOW. Tanya helped all dogs, even if they weren't hers.

Tanya wrote this to me when I lost my beloved house dog, my pride and the love of my life...
I quote here part of an email Tanya sent to me back on 8/4/06:
"If everybody knew the exact moment when they would die, they would live in constant dread of that day and never truly live their life. Keena knows you did everything you could for her. When you see her in your dreams, talk to her about how you feel. She understands and comes to you to make you feel better. Give her lots of hugs and kisses. - Tanya"
With that said.... Tanya didn't live with any fear... She passed away at an ADBA dog show, doing what she loved best... SHOWING HER DOGS in the ADBA Show Ring.  We can all say she was happy that day.... very, very happy on her last day... I will see you in my dreams now my friend and I hope Keena is by your side.

Tanya was 35 years old, 16 days shy of her 36th birthday. She was an only child and is survived by her dear mother, father, her husband, family, a few good dog friends, a few great non-dog friends and a yard full of her Bulldogs!!! Her joy in life was her dogs, PERIOD! Her dreams and aspirations were her dogs...

It's so weird how I told her a few months back we were getting out the dogs right now... We just needed a break and a change in life... I look at things like "EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON"... I wouldn't want to go on with the dogs without my dear friend... Even though we had separate kennels, completely different bloodlines and future plans, Tanya was my best dogfriend and it just wouldn't be the same without her... How ironic... now she's gone... even before we officially closed our kennel.... So unbelievable... so not fair....

Tanya.... your dogs will live on, you accomplished more than most....

 IT'S TRUE THEY SAY... YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT TILL IT'S GONE. I MISS YOU TERRIBLY ALREADY. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU TAUGHT ME... WE SURE HAD SOME GOOD TIMES, TIMES THAT WILL BE WITH ME FOREVER. AND THOSE ENDLESS HOURS OF TALKS.... NO MORE DROPPED CALLS... I WILL MISS YOU ALWAYS MY FRIEND.  I WILL HAVE YOU IN MY HEART FOREVER.

No more pain... No more drama... No more tears.... Sleep Well....
Rest In Peace Tanya.... Rest In Peace my Crazy ASS Girlfriend.... I love You BIOTCH !!!!!!!
Your loss is a Great One.... Can't believe you're gone... You're Irreplaceable!!!.
Run Free My Friend... Run Free with all the Bulldogs in the Sky...
ONE GREAT DOGWOMAN - Game To The End!!!!
FOREVER YOUNG MY FRIEND!!!  - Nany from HOK - April 2008