We love you Rudy and miss you so very much.

It is almost Halloween again. I am loving the last 2 years since I came here in doggy heaven. As much as I miss all of you, it was my time to go. Exactly 2 years ago today, I spend my last night in my bed at home before checking into the hospital. Mama and Dada had been worried sick about me for a couple of weeks and had just found out the bad news. In 2 days, it will be 2 years since I left you but I want you to know that I have been with you ever, since in your heart and in your spirit. I know that you are still keeping my bed in the same place and I appreciate everything you do to remember me by.

I can see that you are growing older and understand a lot more now. I can also hear that you are sometimes asking your mama and dada about where I am and I know one day you will understand. Mama and dada tell you that I am flying in the sky with angels and they are right. I will be your angel and look after you the best I can.I see now that you are a big sister. Your little baby sister Mila is beautiful and I wished I could have met her. I am sure you will tell her about me and the fun 9 months we spent together.

I wanted to show you a some pictures of me during one of my Halloweens with your mama and dada. This was back in 1998. Look at the picture here. Don’t they look so little?!  Dada was Rocky Rambo and mama was a 1920′s flapper girl. I was a devil dog here and you can probably see how committed I was to the costume with my red eyes in the picture.

This couch that we were sitting on was kindly given to us by our good friend Mikey. Actually, I think he just let us borrow it. It was pillowy soft and Nanook and I loved sitting on it. One day, when Nanook and I were sitting on this couch when it was moved to the back porch, we got a little rowdy since mama and dada were not home, we accidentally shredded the whole couch while we were playing around. Let’s just say they were not too happy with me. I am usually a really good girl! I promise!

Don’t I look great in a red cape?

Here I was ready to go trick or treating with dada aka Rocky Rambo. I hope you have the best time trick or treating at your Halloween this year with Grace, Cole and Mila.Don’t forget to brush your teeth after eating all that candy!

Love you always,
Rudy

I’m back with more stories. I had lots of friends growing up. Let me introduce to you Bailey, Wrigley and Louie. They really loved me. All three of them. It was love at first site for them. And me? Not so much. I was way too mature for their brotherly shenanigans.

While visiting our friend Jeremy in Fresno, Mama and Dada left me in the backyard with these 3 boys. It wasn’t the best idea. I really did not want to be left alone with a bunch of young pups so I tore down the entire screen door, hoping to get into the house. When that didn’t get me far away from the boys, I  had another plan up my sleeve. I then decided to dig a hole under the fence to escape. I was free. Free at last! Well, I was free until I got caught. Not by the dog catcher (not this time), but by Mama, Dada and Jeremy. They were returning to the house and waiting for the gate to open to let them into Jeremy’s gated community. And who was there waiting to say hello? Me.  I quickly jumped into the car and we sped back to the house to check on the boys. Back at the house, the puppies were still in the backyard, ignoring the hole I dug to freedom.  Sorry about the screen, Jeremy.

And while visiting, I also had to take lots of pictures with the boys. Here is a picture of us on the guest bed together with Dada. I’m the one with the ‘get me out of here’ look on my face. I was patiently waiting for my ‘ok’ after I was asked to ‘wait’ like a good girl for the picture.

You probably think it’s silly that Dada can sleep through playing ‘tent’ in the wee hours of the mornings when Mama brings you into their bed. Well, imagine sleeping with 4 dogs laying next to you. Silly Dada!

Once the boys grew up a bit, they came to visit me in Santa Barbara and in Ventura. Here they are at my Dada’s going away party. He was moving to San Fransisco.  I was a bit sad, but luckily he missed me soooo much that he moved back after 9 months or so. But I must admit, I was glad to have my three Fresno friends here at the party to wish Dada a safe trip up north and to keep my spirits up…

…even though I had to share my treats with them.

I’ll see you soon in your dreams.

Love,
Rudy

Welcome back from vacation! Looks like you had a wonderful time in Croatia with Mama, Dada, Nona, Dida and Mikey. Yes, I’m one of your faithful blog readers. And how can I not be… you are too cute for words (or for barks, hehe).

So, you are long overdue for Rudy story time. Sorry about the wait. I’ll try to be more chatty from now on.

Back in 1999, Mama and I lived on Victoria Street in Santa Barbara. It was a great 1920s home with a wrap-around porch. And, it was walking distance to downtown. Mama and I would take walks to State Street all the time. We loved sniffing and shopping together around town.

No downtown stroll was complete without a stop at my favorite store… The Three Dog Bakery. Truthfully, Mama didn’t have much choice. I am a sled dog, after all. As soon as I smelled the sweet and tasty treats of the bakery, it would put some skip in my step and I would drag her in. Mama would say ‘Slow down Rudy’ but all I would hear was ‘Mush, Rudy. Mush’. hehe.

Look at all these tasty morsels… and they were all for me!

Well, not all of them. Just this big bone-shaped cookie. Yum. I love this place. And when the place wasn’t too crowded, the owner would ask me to sit on this bench and I would get to lick ice cream off of a spoon.

And on the last day I was on this earth, you fed me for the first and last time ever. And what did you feed me? Yummy treats from the Three Dog Bakery. I am not sure if I ever said thank you… so thank you Ava. You made my heart smile.

Love you forever and ever,
Rudy

You are almost 1 year old! I can’t believe its been so long since mom and dad brought you home from the hospital. Here I am on the day you came home.

It is also your first Christmas coming up in just about a week. It is so exciting for you to do all these things for the first time. I was also just a little baby when I spent my first Christmas with mom and dad at the garage house 10 years ago. Here I am with mommy who wore glasses back then.

We had a lot of fun back in those days. We had a barbecue every Friday and mom and dad’s friends came over. Parties are the best since everyone wanted to feed me a piece of food from their plate. See how little I look here in this picture. I’m sure you know very well what its like to be a cute baby

I was always looking to get into trouble and there were plenty to be had. Mom and dad go to work all day and I just roam around the yard and sometimes play with my friend JoBear in his big yard who’s parents were renting us the little house we lived in.

One day, I got myself into more trouble than I bargain for. In the little yard that we had on the side of the garage house, there are some plants and flowers. I always loved chasing the birds away and sometimes run around biting at the bugs that play around during sunset. I finally got a hold of one with my teeth one day. Little did I know, it was a bee who had left a stinger in my lip. In no time, my face ballooned up and eyes turned red and became hard to open. Mommy and daddy saw me and didn’t know what to do. They called the doggy doctor and he told them I would be okay and the swelling will eventually go down. They just needed to make sure I didn’t swell up too much to be unable to breath. To be on the safe side, I had to take some tylenol to help with the swelling. Look how sad I was in this picture. I looked like a monster!!! No so cute anymore.

I eventually got better the next morning after mom and dad worried about me all day and barely got any sleep. This also wouldn’t be the first time I got into something I wasn’t suppose to.

“Sorry mommy and daddy, I promise to never bite a bee again…”

Congratulations on taking your first step! You are walking like a big girl already after your first steps on Halloween day three weeks ago. I remember when I was as little as you are running around Isla Vista where mom and dad use to live. Dad took me to class everyday and to the beach every time he went surfing.

Me and dad at Sands beach where he would take me to play while he goes surfing. Nice hair cut dad!

One day dad and I went to Devereaux point to go surfing and I hung out at the beach while he paddled into the surf for a little bit. He kept an eye on me while he was in the water to make sure I was hanging around and not getting into too much trouble. I was just a little girl then not much older than you are today. (In human years probably a couple years old already in dog years.) I roamed around the near empty beach sniffing seaweeds and chasing sea birds. Mostly I just laid next to the towel and relaxed.

On one of my jaunts down the beach while chasing a sea gull, I came back to the spot a few moments later and found that the towel and surfboard stuff is not there anymore. Dad had finished surfing and thought I had gotten lost. I knew they were looking for me so I decided to just stay where I was and waited for them to come back.

Mom and dad looked all over town for me thinking that I might have ran off chasing another dog or followed someone home. It wasn’t until it was nearly dark I heard dad’s voice calling my name from the top of bluff just where he had left me. I ran up towards him as fast as I could and we were so happy to see each other again. They were worried sick about me and the thought of me being in danger or injured was too much to bear.

That wasn’t the first or the last time I decided to take a little stroll and got lost. I am very curious and love to explore but it sometimes drove mommy an daddy crazy. Be a good girl Ava and I will talk to you again soon.

You are growing up so quickly and I am so proud of you! I noticed that you took your first steps by yourself on Halloween day! Did you know that your mommy also took her first steps during her first Halloween? How do I know that you ask? Well, I am always listening Even when you think I’m just laying there minding my own business and catching a couple of Zzz’s, I was listening.

I noticed that you are not quite sure where I have gone in the last few weeks. You are still a little baby and life and death is a difficult thing to explain to anyone, let alone you at this early stage of your life. You still look for me around the house and when you are crawling around during play time. Every time you see a picture of me I know that you miss me and point excitedly at my picture. I also know the little game you, daddy and mommy play to remember me by my bed where you crawl up to my bed and lay your head down sideways on it as I use to. That was one of my favorite places to sleep.

Being a husky means I had a lot of hair. Since we live by the ocean where the weather is nice, I didn’t particularly like snuggling up in a blanket or sleeping on the bed with sheets and pillows. I loved the coldness of the hardwood floor. One of my favorite places to lay during the day is right by the front door. There is a little gap just beneath the front door where a little outdoor breeze sneaks in the house. Daddy and mommy would always open the door slowly when they came home so I had time to get up and move to my next favorite spot by the ottoman.

My favorite spot

By the ottoman with you when you were 5 1/2 months old.

If you look at the edge of all of the slip covers on our couches, you will know exactly where I took my day time naps. With white slip covers on all the couches, I inevitably seasoned nearly all of them with touches of brown.

Just a little bit of dirt on the couches

I hope you had a great first Halloween and I thought you looked great in your lady bug costume. I miss you all hope to see you again one day.

Love,

Rudy

It’s been two weeks since I left this world and I want you and everyone to know that I am doing well. I am no longer in any pain and Nanook is just as I remembered her. She is overdue for a pedicure and her nails sure make a lot of noise when she’s tap dancing on the floor. Yeah, we have hardwood floors up here too. Bailey and Louie have also come by for a visit in the last week and those labs sure like to run. I am tired just watching them chase tennis balls all day. Hopefully no one is worried about me because I am happy and enjoying everyday while napping in the sunshine up here in doggy heaven.

I remember when mommy and daddy first brought you home from the hospital a couple of days after your were born. I was watching them through the dining room window with Yoda when daddy carried you from the car to the front door in the new car seat. They had such joy in their eyes as they welcomed you home for the first time. It reminded me of the first time daddy picked me up and brought me home to meet mommy.

I was just a little baby when daddy came to see me and all of my brothers and sisters. My real mom gave birth to 2 litters of puppies almost back to back so she was very worn and thinned. She was losing patches of her fur but us babies were healthy as can be. Despite me being a ‘red’ husky, both of my real mommy and daddy were black or gray huskies. When I was a baby, I had markings on my belly in the shape of an arrow so people called me ‘Arrow’ to make it easier to tell me apart from all of my brothers and sisters. I was just 6 weeks old daddy walked into my yard on the day I start my new life.

When daddy walked in to the yard we were all excited and began running circles around the new visitor. I ran straight up to his feet and got a hold of his shoe laces with my little sharp puppy teeth. That struck him as kind of silly and we immediately made a connection. He picked me up and held me for the rest of the time. It was a sign for him that I was destine to spend the rest of my life with him. He decided to take me home in a little shoebox and I sat in a shoebox on the floor of the passenger seat the entire trip back to Santa Barbara.

I remember meeting mommy when I finally got to my new home and she was so ecstatic to see me she grabbed me right out of daddy’s arms and held me tightly in her arms. I knew I was with a loving family and looked forward to experiencing life with my new daddy and mommy. Our family grew over the years but I felt loved and joy from everyone. I am having fun here in heaven and don’t feel sad for me. Be a good girl for mommy and daddy and I will talk to you soon…

love,

Rudy

By the time you are able to read this, I will have been long gone. But don’t worry about me. I lived a long life and had a great time with you and everyone in our family during the 10 1/2 years I had on this earth. I am spending my days playing and nights sleeping soundly here in doggy heaven with all of my friends. Scraps and Nanook are both here with me and we are having tons of fun chasing our tails, peeing on trees and chewing on rawhide bones. I know my mommy and daddy are really sad about me leaving but I wanted to let them know that I am in a better place where there is no pain and suffering.

I was living the last year with cancer growing in my belly but I didn’t want to worry everyone so I kept it to myself. It wasn’t until the very end when I couldn’t hide my illness anymore that I had to go to the hospital for a check up. My condition deteriorated quickly and I love you all for being there for me while I left this world. I was not in too much pain and just slowly closed my eyes and went to sleep as the time came for me to go.

Here are all the stories of my life that I’d like to share with you now that you are grown up. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry but all of the stories of my life are meant to show you how much I was loved and how much your mommy and daddy loves you.

Please don’t feel sad for my passing as I am at a better place now. Thank you for the 9 months you spent with me and I will see everyone again one day.

Love,

Rudy