Duff - 1996 to 2013

[Skiploder]

On a cold spring day in 1996, my then girlfriend and I drove out to Tracy to pick up an 8 week old staffordshire bull terrier puppy from Stoutheart Kennels. We picked a sweet and gentle brindle and white male who we named Duff.

For the next 16 years, Duff was witness to some of the happiest moments of our lives. He was lying on the bed when I proposed to my wife, he was the first of our family through the door when we moved into the first house we bought together and he was the loyal and loving nursemaid to our two children - patiently putting up with baby grabs and gropes, rough house play, awkward hugs and sloppy kisses. He slept under their cribs and watched over them when they played in the yard.

While I travelled, I always knew he was watching over and protecting our family, ready to lay his life down for my wife and the two kids he loved. When I would come home, he would accompany me on my hikes and my mountain bike rides.

He was one of those dogs that house trained really easily, got along well with other dogs at the park and never strayed to far from us when we walked him off leash. His dutifully stayed out of the garbage, accepted all of our other furry and scaly pets, and passed on his good manners to our patterdale terrier, Dixie.

As the years went on, we marveled at how well he was aging. A touch of arthritis in the back legs at 14, greying around his once dark muzzle and a slight cloudy to his eyes were the only signs that betrayed his age.

About two month ago, his legs really began to fail. He also began having little incontinence issues, difficulty breathing and was having sporadic issues keeping food down. He rallied around New Years and we put thoughts of his impending mortality out of our minds...........

...........until last Friday when his rear legs finally gave up the ghost. He began whimpering and losing almost total control of his bowels. He lost all interest in food. By Sunday, he was obviously in pain and we made the decision all pet owners fear they will have to make one day.

On Monday the 18th of February, in our living room, on his bed with both of his blankets, he was peacefully put to sleep with the family he loved (both furry and non-furry) for 16 years at his side. Our vet was kind enough to make an exception for us and perform the procedure at our house. He was carried out in his bed, wrapped in his blankets by my son and I. He will be cremated privately and his ashes will be returned to us.

I leave for work at 4:30 in the morning, but always check on the kids on my way out the door. This morning, as I tucked the sheet back around my daughter I noticed that she was hugging his old food bowl to her chest................

Even though we have two cats and another dog, the house seems empty without him shuffling after me from room to room and despite a wife and two kids, I'm oddly lonely sitting here at the computer without him licking my bare legs.

It saddens me that as time progresses, I will lose the sharp grief of this week. I think back to how time has dulled the loss of other pets and even family and friends and I'm thinking that I don't want this loss to be dulled so quickly. Somehow I feel that if I can carry a piece of this with me to my final days, that it will insure that - if there is an afterlife - that I will have the opportunity to see Duff again, to apologize for any times that I ignored him, that I lost my temper with him or took his love and loyalty for granted.

Rest in peace Duffy. You family misses you terribly.