Ruger Ru is our October 9, 2011 Pup of the Week

Whenever we are blessed with a new life in our families it comes with a promise, not a guarantee, but a promise. A promise that we will be able to watch this little life grow, that we will have years of love from it, books of memories, countless smiles. But sometimes this promise is broken, and when it is it steals something from down in our soul.

There was a lot of promise in Ruger Ru. He marched into his forever home, shortly after Tanner Bub, a legendary dog, went to the Bridge. He was not brought in to replace Tanner Bub, no dog could. He was brought in to sprout new buds of love in his family's heart, and that goofy little puppy took to that job like a duck to water.

Ruger Ru was more than just the family dog and Cocoa's new brother, he was part of our family. We were there they day he arrived home and, through pictures and video, we all watched him grow up. We laughed about his antics the way we laugh about the way other people's children drive them mad. He would eat what he shouldn't eat. Sometimes a couch. Sometimes a bit of Mom. He certainly kept Foley Monster Attorney at Paw busy.

Like most promises, when they are broken, no one saw it coming. Ruger was fine one day, a little sick the next, and gone the third. He had suffered a diaphragmatic hernia. It was, more than likely, something he was born with, and undetectable until the unthinkable happens. The diaphragm tears, and the stomach, liver and other internal organs press against the heart and lungs.

Expensive emergency surgery needed to be done at a hospital four hours away and Ruger's chances were only 20% to survive. Because this was a birth defect chances were high it would happen again. Ruger may have survived, but the Ruger we knew, the happy, bouncing baby boy, there was little chance that pup would survive. So his parents made the hardest decision of all. And for the second time in less than three years they had to put down another beloved pet.

His Mom found out that all the dogs in his litter had suffered similar fates. The diaphragmatic hernia is common in litters where the Mom has been over bred. Sadly there is never anyway for a Mom to know this. And sadly we come with no guarantees, just promises, and as we have learned as a group, whether it be by rescue, adoption, or purchase, there is no way to bring a pup into your heart that is less riskier than others. Some dogs like our beloved Doxie go to the bridge at 18, and others like Ruger go at two. It's why humans estimate our average life span at ten years.

After my sister Blake died in 2001 Mommy and Daddy brought three dogs into our homes over seven years, all who died at less than four years of age. We don't know what happened with Jax the Pappilon. He got sick one day, and the doctor said he had a strained shoulder. He died the next day, at the age of three, not from a strained shoulder. Copper died in her crate one morning, her little heart gave out, at three and a half. And little Skye passed at less than a year, from something no one could diagnose. Promises broken, all. Each time Mommy and Daddy said never again. And each time they reached down in themselves and found a reason to believe that their next dog would fulfill the promise. So far Pocket has provided four years, a pretty good record for this vicinity. So Mommy knows the hell that Aunt Trudee is going through and she prayers that Aunt Trudee finds, when she is ready, the ability to open her heart again to a dog, because she is a great dog Mom, and there aren't many of those in the troubled world.

So this is for our friend Ruger Ru, we miss you, we love you, and you will always been in our heart.

I'll remember you too clearly
But I'll survive another day
Tug ropes to share
When there's no one there
I'll imagine how'd you play

I'll see you in another life now, baby
Come see me in my dreams
But when I reach across the galaxy
I will miss your company

Company
I'll be looking for company
Look and listen
Through the years
Someday you may hear me
Still crying for company

So now I'll go one and live my life
And I will home up my heart for a friend
But it'll never be the same
And I know I'll never have one like you again
No, not like you

I'll see you in another life now, baby
Come see me in my dreams
But when I reach across the galaxy
I will miss your company

Company
I'll be looking for company
Look and listen
Through the years
Someday you may hear me
Still crying for company