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Early Sunday morning, our Little Duke flew away from us on his new journey
to the Bridge where he will join all the rest of our babies that have gone
before him that are waiting for us. He won't be alone but with family and
friends. When he left us, he was at home surrounded by his family. He went
very quickly due to respiratory and renal failure and did not suffer.
As many of you know we rescued Little Duke in November 2002. Although, his
story was different from most, he was still a rescue. This little guy had
been a spoiled, petted, pampered pup his entire life of eleven years.
However, he got sick and lost his beautiful Pom coat, so his owner turned
him in to rescue. I still remember the day Marlene sent me his photo and
said "look what I've got." Nobody will ever want a Pom with no coat, but
he is such a sweetheart. That day, I fell in love with his little face and
knew he needed us. I didn't know how I was going to get him to TX from MI,
but I knew I was going to do it. Marlene was able to get him to Detroit
for me and then, our very own Gail Willson agreed to pick him up and
foster him overnight until I could fly up the next day and pick him up. I
will forever be grateful to Gail for doing this. She not only picked him
up and overnighted him, but she picked me up at the airport and made me
dinner, let me spend the night, and then took Little Duke and I back to
the airport the next morning.
Little Duke was not like most of our rescues. He was a complete cuddle
bunny, adored all people, lived his life to be held and babied. His only
fault, if it was a fault, was that he wanted to be the only dog in our
lives. He spent a year trying to convince Dick and I that he was the only
little one needed. If Little Duke was close to a person and one of the
other pups came up for attention, he would very nastily run them off.
However, although he sounded vicious when he did that, he never, ever bit.
When I would brush him, he would viciously attack the brush, but he would
never, ever bite me. He was a real stinker when it came to being brushed.
Little Duke was our clown. If we were ever down and needed a smile, he
could provide it. His back legs and back were so bad that he sometimes
would just fall down when he got excited and started bouncing around. He
and I would sing together.....which Dick hated, but I thought was
adorable. All I had to do is make a dog howling noise and Little Duke
would join in. When I stopped, he stopped. It was so funny.
We spent a lot of time, and effort, money and love on this little guy
during the past year. My vet and I tried very hard to diagnose his
problems and fix everything the best we could, but some things (like the
deformed trachea and the fused spine and the arthritis) couldn't be fixed.
Little Duke probably lived with a lot of pain his entire life, but you
would never have known it. He was one of the happiest, most loving little
Pommies we have ever had the pleasure to know and love.
Although we knew this little darling would not be ours to love for very
long, he left us way too soon and there is a big void in the Pom Palace.
Little Duke might have been little in stature, but he made up for it in
his very big personality and I can't begin to say how much he is missed
and how much it hurts to have lost him. But, I would do exactly the same
thing again. I am just thankful that this little angel was sent to us to
love, even if just for a short time. One thing is for sure Little Duke was
happy and unconditionally loved the last year of his life and he knew it
and loved us right back.
Linda, Dick & The North Texas Pom Pack
Tuffy, Happy (PMR), Wee Willy (PMR),
Wee Princess (SDR), Little One
Little Duke (SDR) - RIP 1-92 to 11-03
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