DOGS ARE LIKE RAINBOWS … Puppies are the joy at one end. Old dogs are the treasure at the other.
Duke came to live with his family in May 2006 …
He joined a family of six … mum and dad, Harrison (5 yrs), Jayden (3 yrs), Lily (18 mos.) and Murphy, an old chocolate lab.
Sadly, Murphy left them when Duke was only two years old. From then on, Duke took over and he watched the family grow – literally.
When he was three, he had another member to look after – Poppy.
And when he was seven, along came Daisy – another sister to love.
They always celebrated his birthdays with lots of cake and treats. He was their much loved dog!
Then one day things changed. There was yet another addition to the family called Paddington. But he was not a two-legged wriggling hooman.
Paddington was a frisky cockapoo pup who wanted to play with him. Duke wasn’t sure about that. He was after all 10 years old. But five days later, Duke fully understood that this new addition who is never going to walk on two feet was going to be his own little brother.
Now, Paddy was learning to be dog from Duke. But all Duke wanted to do was to sit around or sleep. Paddy thought well, that’s maybe what one does as dog – lay around and eat. LOL!
They were two peas in a pod!
But hold on. That wasn’t happy ever after, because two years later when he was 12, God Almighty! the family grew again. Along came a red cockapoo called Winnie.
The family expected Duke to take his time with Winnie. But he was so keen to meet this little pup.
From the start Duke loved Winnie as his newest little sister and she loved her big brother right back.
Now he has his own four-legged brother and sister to share his home and family.
Both Paddy and Winnie looked up to Duke, and they are especially grateful for his built-in dinner alarm clock. With a family of seven hoomans, it’s easy to forget feeding time. Duke wouldn’t let that happen. He would be the one to remind them its breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Duke absolutely loved his food. He inhaled it in seconds. Over the years, he had probably eaten loaves and loaves of bread because he always nicked pieces of toasts whenever he could.
All through the years, he was always there. He was big in personality and always seem to be lying in front of the cupboard door that needed to be opened.
He saw it as his duty to look after the girls.
Both two and four legged.
In April, he turned 14 – and there was a lockdown party!
Last Friday morning, as they always did, Winnie would run down the stairs with mum to find Duke asleep in his basket. She would go over and kiss Duke to wake him up. But that morning she just smelled him. He could no longer get up.
Duke was a dignified old man but he was slowly losing his body functions. He had already lost his hearing, he could no longer go for walks because his legs were hurting and his body was giving up. The family wanted to preserve his dignity – and let him go.
Winnie couldn’t understand why the man who came to their house took Duke away. So she waited all day by the gate for him to come home. He didn’t.
The next morning she didn’t run down the stairs to find Duke because she knew he was no longer there.
Duke went to find his brother Murphy and his friend, Pandora who recently left us too.
May’s comment: A group of our doodle friends took a road trip to the Isle of Wight almost two years ago to meet some doodles that we got to know on Instagram. We feel like we know them even though it was the first time we met. Since then we have kept up with each other’s doodles and our lives.
We never met Duke but we knew of him. He was Paddy and Winnie’s older brother. We would look out for him on their Instagram posts and each time we all sighed with relief. Ah, he’s still around. Then last Friday, there was the post we were dreading. Duke had crossed the bridge. Our hearts wept for the family. He was a big part of their lives, literally and figuratively. And he had left a very large gaping hole.
Duke was 14 years old. He lived a long and wonderful life. He was so loved, he hung around till the very end. But he was getting tired and he needed to go to sleep.
No matter how prepared we are, no matter how we understand that it was time – the leaving is still unbearable. But as much as it hurts this moment, there were 14 years of pure unconditional love. A heart that hurts because of love is better than a cold, empty heart.
I love this quote … DOGS ARE LIKE RAINBOWS. Puppies are the joy at one end. Old dogs are the treasure at the other.
Goodnight Duke. There’s another star in the night skies! Look out for it and you won’t miss it because it’s the big bright star.
Sending all our love to Duke’s family – David, Emma, Harrison, Jayden, Lily, Poppy, Daisy, Paddington and Winnie. In time all the love that you had for Duke and all the love that he gave will come together to fill that gaping hole in your hearts. But for now, we wish we have a band-aid big enough to put back those broken hearts.
