Goodbye Sweet Rudy

Last weekend we lost our beloved friend and companion, Rudy. It is hard in words to sum up feelings, thoughts and the life of someone that was very much a loved part of our family, but I will do my best.

Shortly before getting Rudy, I moved from my condo in downtown Boulder to a small house with a yard in Louisville for the sole purpose of having a dog. Maybe not the best move for a 28 year old bachelor to move from the city to suburbia, but that is how much I wanted a dog and Rudy never made me regret that decision. After being there about two months, I got Rudy as a seven week old puppy and picked her from a litter of her mates. While her brothers and sisters all just snoozed in the sun, Rudy instantly took to me and followed me around, even as I was looking over her siblings and talking to the breeder about which dog was the best. Rudy made my decision easy. From that day on, Rudy was my best bud and literally always at my side.

Having a puppy was a lot harder and more work than I ever thought and Rudy was no different. However unlike most puppies, especially labs, Rudy was never destructive and never chewed anything up. She was also very smart and easily trained. She was house trained, walking off leash, sitting, laying down, etc. within a few weeks. Rudy’s only quirk was peeing. From the time she was a puppy until at least four or five years old, she’d pee almost every time we’d get home from work and was excited, especially when someone would pet her in that state. It is a good thing the house had wood floors!

Rudy was always happiest at my side or hiking or swimming. She literally squealed with excitement when she would hear the word walk or see her collar or leash get picked up and she’d almost knock you down to get out the door first. Rudy also loved to play fetch. I never had to teach her that skill, she was a ball dog from day one. Even into late adulthood, she would continue to play fetch for as long as someone was willing to throw her a ball...or until she literally puked and passed out from exhaustion. She slept with me in my bed, crawled up with me on the couch every night and pretty much for the first year of her life we did everything together. She had an amazing ability to sense emotions and would come to you when you most needed someone to hug or just a friend to lay at your feet and keep you company.

Not too long after that Cari came into my life and Rudy was very jealous. She definitely gave Cari the cold shoulder forawhile. Rudy was too sweet to hold a grudge for long though and quickly took to Cari as her momma.....and then not too long after that, Jake as her brother. Jake had issues with other dogs when he first came to us, but never with Rudy. I think anyone, even a dog like Jake that had clearly been tormented by other people and dogs could sense she was a lover and a threat to nobody.

And so for years, Cari, Jake, Rudy and I were a happy family. We hiked or biked or walked with the dogs every day. We moved to our new house with an acre of fenced yard. Jake was in heaven chasing squirrels and Rudy in heaven with the massive yard for fetch and all the trails, ditches and lakes within a short walk of our house. When Harper came into our lives, Rudy and Jake got a little less attention but never less love. In recent months Harper had just starting taking more of an interest in Rudy. Rudy was always very sweet with Harper but for a baby or just learning to walk toddler, a bit of a “bull in a china shop” around her. Harper got knocked over many a time by Rudy. Harper was just tiny and Rudy was just excited but it wasn’t always a

good match. More recently Harper can hold her own. She sensed when Rudy was behind her near stairs or the door to outside and would stand aside to avoid getting run over. She started to play fetch with Rudy and could throw the ball far enough that Rudy would actually bring it back to her and not to me. She would giggle and squeal with delight when Rudy gave her “kisses”. It breaks my heart that Harper won’t continue to grow up with Rudy as her doggie.

The last year of Rudy’s life has been hard on her and on us. She developed an auto-immune skin condition that resulted in her losing most of her hair and her skin being an almost constant flaky, patchy, pussy mess. Cari gave Rudy baths with special medicated shampoo almost daily and had to vacuum the house just as often. We went through thousands of dollars of tests, misdiagnoses and failed treatments. She was poked, prodded, medicated, sick, tired and just generally not herself for most of that time. Yet through all of it she was always sweet and loving. She never whimpered, whined or complained. Our vet said seeing her name on the schedule always brightened his day. It is most sad that in the last month, it seemed like we had a breakthrough with her condition and found the right combination of medications to treat it. The week before she died she was looking better than she had at any point in the last year. It was such a shock to lose her so suddenly after all that she has been through and had seemed to almost overcome. Maybe her death the treatment of her condition over the last year were related and it is entirely possible they were not . All that matters is we now have lost both our beloved dogs in the course of three months

and our house and lives feel very quiet and almost empty without them.

The circle of life goes on and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next little Miss Lastick in a matter of weeks. Harper is excited to be a big sister and Cari and I are excited to have a baby again. All will be well in the Lastick family and we will never forget Rudy and Jake who will always be in our minds, hearts and souls.....until we meet again on the Rainbow Bridge.

Written by Tom on October 12, 2011--what would have been Rudy's 9th Birthday. Happy Birthday sweet girl. We miss you more than words can say...