50 sense

We got our first dog together in 1992. The white toy poodle came to us when he was about 15 months old. I had wanted a dog for years and was so excited to finally be getting one. I had visions of a bouncy, playful little dog. What I got as a feral dog that had never experienced human contact except to be fed and groomed. He had spent all his life in a 6 foot kennel alone. I worked for hours with him to try to get him less fearful of EVERYTHING . He just stood shivering and staring at the wall a foot away. Finally I called the friend who placed him with us and told him I was throwing in the towel. This dog was too much for me ,the novice dog owner. At that point I picked him up to take him outside before I took him back and he jumped out of my arms and broke his front leg. "You break it, you buy it" or so the saying goes started our journey with the dog we named, Rudy.

Rudy warmed up to us gradually, partly because we had to carry him around for weeks with the broken leg. He came out of the cast after about six weeks. A month later he excitedly jumped from the sofa one afternoon to greet me whan I arrived home from work and broke the other front leg. Needless to say he had quite a rough start to life. Over the years he proved to be a good dog except that he hated all our guests and friends and bit many of them. We kept his hair cut in a mohawk most of his life to serve as a warning that he was NOT a friendly little dog.

One of Rudy's best photos was taken in the woods in Indiana on a camping trip in 1995. That photo has always been housed in a beautiful frame with the inscription by Robert Frost:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.

He sleeps now...

Rudy Lynn Porter

1990-June 30, 2007