THE GOLDEN DUO - DUKE & REX

MEETING DUKE

When I was 19 years old, my Mom purchased a used Chevy Cavalier. To my surprise, a golden retriever puppy came with the car! I could remember hearing his little paws racing up the stairs, I was sitting down watching a movie and he ran up to see me and gave me a face bath.

From that point going forward, we were best buddies. I can remember trying to figure out a name for him, I had a few names in mind but when he started giving me his paw, the name of Duke was given to him. We did a lot together whether it be going to the beach, park, relaxing out on the front/back yard, or inside, we weren't far from each other.

DUKE BECOMES A DADDY

In 2006, we were interested in Duke fathering a puppy. At this time, we knew a family that lived just down the street. They had a golden retriever with golden/dark red fur, I can't recall her name but after a quite a few play dates, she became pregnant with Duke.

In October of that year, a litter of golden retriever puppies were born. Over the next month, I went to spend time with the newborns. In the next few weeks, I received some exciting news, I got to pick a puppy from the litter, I couldn't wait!

The day finally came, I rushed down to their house, I couldn't believe how big they had grown. When I was picking my puppy, I saw one puppy who was smaller than the others but also had that same golden/dark red fur as his Mom.

When we brought him home, Duke was so happy. As he danced around, he also gave his son a face bath.

From that day going forward, they were inseparable!

One day, approximately three years later, Duke & Rex were given a soup bone, they both loved them so much. On this particular day, Rex somehow got the soup bone stuck in his mouth! The bone was wrapped around his bottom jaw behind his K9 teeth.

Rex had to be taken to the vet, luckily, the vet was close. I stayed behind to look after Duke, I was cleaning up and when I was going out to throw out the trash, Duke escaped! This is where I noticed the prime example of how close they really were. Duke took off like a rocket, straight up to the vet's office, I was so relieved he was there and safe.

As the years went by, I noticed Duke starting to have issues with his back legs, and Duke was taken to the vet. He was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. This slowed Duke down a little bit, but not too much, he still loved to play with Rex as much as possible.

Their favorite game was playing fetch with a tennis ball, Duke could only fit three balls at one time, Rex was the same but always tried for four every time.

One day, Duke's hips started to give out. He needed help a lot decided that the stairs were too dangerous, so I started keeping him downstairs and just took him out to the front lawn.

Duke lived for another five wonderful years with us and his son Rex. We had a name for their favorite game, it was called "Skyball". In 2016 Duke's hip dysplasia had progressively got worse and could barely stand. A discussion was made to have Duke euthanized.

When we got home, there was a feeling of empty was, Duke's passing had left a void and Rex was heartbroken and so was I. He searched the whole house and backyard and I noticed a major change in his behavior, he misses his daddy.

Things weren't ever back to normal for quite a while, but as the months went by, Rex began to cheer up and was playful again but he was noticeably slower but still loved his tennis balls and playing skyball.

The dreadful day came when Rex started to have seizures, this was very alarming but not as much as when he had a big one that fell down the stairs!

Rex was rushed to the vet, where I thought he just had a bad ear infection. A battery of tests were performed, when the results came back, we all were deviated.

It turned out that he was diagnosed with cancer and had to be euthanized.

Normally this would be a very sad and depressing day, but I found comfort that his day of passing was Father's Day! To this day, I always think back to when Rex left us to be with his daddy.

I really wish animals had a longer life span to spend together with their loving families. It doesn't matter how long you have them, it's never long enough!

Craig Buchanan