Tribute to Rudy

Sad days at the Taylor household.
Austin's pet,Rudy,he treated as gold.
We came home last evening and I went to his pen thus,
to find that he was no longer with us. :(


We gave Austin a chocolate lab for graduation. He was only 6 weeks old. Austin thought for several days, trying to decide on a good name for him and finally settled on Rudy. He was such a sweetheart and he and Austin had the best time playing together. During the summer when Chandler was here, Rudy followed him on his tractor many laps around the swimming pool.

When Rudy was a little puppy he would sleep with his head on the peddle of Chandler's tractor. Actually the tractor was Austin's when he was a little boy.



Rudy grew and grew and was so smart. Austin taught him to shake, sit, stay, kennel (which meant go to the pen) and fetch. He loved to go get whatever we threw out- balls, paint roller, sticks, etc. When Austin would come home from school or work he would pick big old Rudy up like a baby. They chased each other, wrestled around on the ground and swam in the pool. As Rudy got older he started getting in the swimming pool on his own, just to cool off and get a drink. He loved to be with us and learned how to get the back door open and come in the house. As a matter of fact, while Robert and I were gone one weekend and Austin was at work Rudy came in and proceeded to tear up some of my fall decorations. Austin had not locked the back door when he left. Actually it could have been so much worse. He only tore the straw hat off of a scarecrow that I had sitting on the fireplace. Sometimes Austin would sneak Rudy in at night and let him sleep on the bed with him. One morning I was about to head to school and I stepped out the back door to check on Rudy. I called and called and he didn't come. I opened the door to Austin's room to tell him that he needed to get up and find Rudy. It was dark in Austin's room and as I pushed the door open I heard this thump-thump-thump and realized ole Rudy was on the bed wagging his tail at me. Austin said Rudy was lonely outside or sometimes he would say it was too cold. Rudy was 7 months old and he was huge. Austin was at work when I found Rudy yesterday so Robert and I told him when he got home. It was so sad. Austin went to the bathroom and cried and cried which made it hurt so much more. You know how bad it hurts you when your child is hurting.