Tsar came out of hospital "pretty bouncy and chirpy", owner Sean Scully says. Photo / supplied
Tsar came out of hospital "pretty bouncy and chirpy", owner Sean Scully says. Photo / supplied
UPDATE November 24, 2021: Since this story was written Tsar's condition has declined rapidly.
In a post on his Barnacles Facebook page on Tuesday evening owner Sean Scully said he had made the difficult decision to farewell his canine companion of nine years today.
Blood transfusions had been suggested to keep Tsar alive a little longer but Scully said he had promised his mate a quality life.
On Tuesday night the pair had a had ''a little party'' and watched lots of videos of Tsar's antics.
''The Barnacles Canine Finishing Academy will now close. I'm really sorry the show is over,'' Scully wrote.
He thanked the people of Northland for their support and making him laugh with their responses to his posts.
A Givealittle fundraiser — set up by one of Tsar's fans to help pay his chemotherapy bills — had been closed and any money left over would be split between Bay of Islands Animal Rescue and Donna Doolittle's Animal Rescue in Kaitaia.
November 22, 2021:
Northland's best known celebrity dog has been diagnosed with cancer — but his antics are still bringing a smile to people's faces despite troubled times and uncertainty over his own future.
Tsar, an Irish wolfhound from Kerikeri, leaped to fame during the August lockdown through his owner's Facebook posts.
Within days of level 4 Tsar went from a handful of followers to 800. Now the number is nudging 2000.
Some posts lamented Tsar's habit of wandering off to visit people's homes uninvited while others explained a canine training system, dubbed the Barnacles Canine Finishing Academy, that delivered comically poor results.
The posts that best tapped into the Covid zeitgeist, however, were those that poked fun of vaccine myths.
In one Tsar was covered in metal implements because the jab had supposedly made him magnetic; on another occasion he turned into a cat after the vaccine altered his DNA.
Followers of Tsar's page will know he has been suffering unexplained ill health for the past few weeks.
Now owner Sean Scully has revealed Tsar has been diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
Chemotherapy has left Tsar "pretty tuckered out" at times. Photo / supplied
Scully said the thing he had enjoyed most about Tsar's Facebook fame was the way it had brought people together.
''It has really united the community behind something that's not Covid, it's allowed them to focus on something else. Now he's not well they're even more focused,'' Scully said.
''It's a sad ending, but I'm just trying to give him his best life.''
The pair travelled to Auckland for Tsar's first round of chemotherapy last Tuesday.
He is expected to undergo 16 treatments — once a week for first two months, later dropping to one a fortnight and finally once a month.
Tsar first leapt to stardom by modelling the Barnacles Cranium Shield, blue-tooth-enabled headgear designed to protect the wearer from vaccines, 5G mind control and rain. Photo / supplied
The treatment was similar to human chemo though the aim was not to preserve life but to preserve quality of life.
On average it offered an extra six months of life.
''He may not respond to it, there is that chance, but we might get six months and one day. That'd be pretty awesome.''
Between bouts of fatigue Tsar had been much like his normal self.
''He came out of hospital pretty bouncy and chirpy, but a big blood vomit in the car on Sunday was a bit of a hit to the system,'' Scully said.
In the meantime Tsar was attracting even more attention than usual.
He was feted like a visiting celebrity during a ride on Bay of Islands Vintage Railway, and while passing through Whangārei he'd been chased by a woman brandishing a large bull's penis.
Scully pointed out the woman was one of Tsar's Facebook friends and the penis was a dried dog treat rather than anything kinky.
Canine celebrity Tsar takes a ride through Kawakawa on the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway. Photo / supplied
Another fan, whom Scully had never met, had started a Givealittle page to help pay for the hefty chemotherapy bills.
As of Monday, just four days into the fundraising campaign, more than $5500 had been raised.
In the meantime Tsar would keep spreading joy, Scully said.
''Face it, there's been stuff-all to smile about lately, but Tsar has made a lot of people smile in the six or seven months since I've opened his world to people.''
In September Tsar was one of eight Northland canines nominated for the title of New Zealand's Top Office Dog.
