Dukes Story
The supposed runt of the litter, Duke was tiny when we went to collect him at 8 weeks old, and when I picked him up he would snuggle up under my chin. Although that didn't last long as he grew very fast and after a few months he was huge so he would cuddle up with his teddies instead.
Duke was always gentle and although he could be excitable and playful he always knew when someone needed him to be calm around them. When my nana would come to visit he would bound up to the door and on seeing her he would walk patiently behind her until she sat down and would carefully rest his head in her lap for a scratch behind the ear.
He made friends with people where ever we went with his happy Duke smile and even people who were nervous of dogs after a few minutes would be giving him a belly rub and calling him a big softie, they just looked into his warm brown eyes and melted.
Then in March 2013 when he was 8 we were told he had a tumour on his spleen. We were devestated. He could have his spleen removed but it was only a 50/50 chance he would make it through due to his age.
He made it through! He wasn't allowed upstairs while he healed so I moved the bed downstairs into the living room and slept there for 2 months, nothing could keep us apart.
Then the test results came back and we were told that he had blood vessel cancer and while he wouldn't feel any pain, one day he would lie down and not get back up. He had a few weeks, maybe a few months but he definitely wouldn't make Christmas.
But he did! He made that Christmas, and the next one, and the next two after that!
As he got older he slowed down a bit, his back legs got a bit wobbly and he spent a lot more time cuddling with us on the sofa and watching the TV than playing with his toys or wanting to go on walks, but he was our happy, smiley miracle dog.
Then two days before Christmas 2017 we took him to the vets thinking he needed his arthritis medication increasing as he had been very wobbly on his legs the night before and was having trouble getting up. That day I had to look into his warm brown eyes and make the hardest decision of my life. His heart was strong but the nerves had deteriorated in his back and he had lost a lot of the feeling in his back legs. There was nothing that could be done and it would only get worse.
At 13 years and one month, nearly 5 years after we'd been told he wouldn't make Christmas, we sat on the floor at the vets, fed him sausages for the last time, and cuddled him close as he went across rainbow bridge.
We decided to start the Duke foundation in his memory, to raise awareness of the breeds loving nature and help rotties in need.