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Dudley was born in Granite Falls, Washington, and came to live at the Reber home in November of 1992. He was a big dude, sporting his big dude feet and big dude attitude, but he was full of fun and friendship. He was a sensitive kind of guy, very nurturing and not wanting to fight. He had friends of all shapes and sizes, even sharing food with a stray cat and helping her clean up after the birth of her kittens. |
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Dudley's favorite things were ear-surfing out the car window, head massages, sleeping under the covers, food of all kinds, and finding the sunniest spot in the house. He could be seen dragging his dog blanket to the location of the sun spot for maximum comfort. He had his favorite place on the sofa, too, which was on a lap if available. Many times he would plop himself up on the sofa amid company and settle his jowls on someone's lap (often accompanied by an "ewww!") From great-grandmas to new visitors of all species, he was always a friend. |
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Dudley was diagnosed with a leaky heart valve in Spring of 2001, and did quite well with medication under the care of Dr. Fosberg, who referred to Dudley as the Energizer Bunny... he just kept going. Even after emergency surgery in November 2005 to save him from gastric torsion (turned stomach), he bounced back and had six more months of quality time. It was just in the last couple months that he began to have more fluid in the lungs from the heart failure, resulting in coughing and a general slowing down, but he still found great pleasure in his favorite things. He experienced relief from most of the coughing the last two weeks, thanks to Dr. Asterino's acupuncture, and rested quite peacefully up until his last day when his systems just started shutting down. Dr. Fosberg and his friends at Indian Trail Animal Clinic helped say goodbye to Dudley Thursday afternoon... a very sad occasion for all of us. I imagine he and Molly-Ann are in Grandma Lucile's heavenly garden, picking out choice morsels of kitty-roca, beating down a new path in the grass and racing around the trees; or perhaps in the kitchen, eating cookies. |
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I thank God for the special gift of Dudley in my life for 13-1/2 years. He will be sorely missed. |
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Goodbye Dear Friend |
