[Dailydrool] Nudgie.....went to see feyfey

[boardwaddle]

I almost didn't write this.  It is waddle season and helping the paw hounds 
comes first....but our beloved Nudgie, WoWddle King, yeahright 2004, adopted 
from Tri-State Basset Rescue 2003, houndie with more loving Aunties than 
almost anybody, the shelter wanted to kill him .....happy waddler, rambler, 
traveler, sitter upper, retired, cart using......sweetest hound among all 
sweet hounds....went to the bridge Tuesday night.  He was 14. He was a 
pawfect example of it never being too late for a hound to start a new life, 
help his friends or build a social resume.

Nudgie moved in 10 days after Woo went to the bridge. Feyfey needed somebody 
to snark at. He didn't care. He loved his couch, his pets, his cookies and 
his Aunties....in about that order. He was sent from a shelter in Maryland 
to one in Pennsylvania. They told Sandybob that he was too old and that he 
had a couple months to live from mouth cancer. Not. He was with us for  6 
wonderful years and was the perfect family member from the moment he 
arrived. He loved his Auntie's Pat and Carol who had to sign a contract that 
they would return him before taking him to Western Pennsylvania for a 
vacation last year. They wanted to adopt Nudgie if we didn't...and adopted 
cuzin Hugh because he was Nudgelike. He slept with Auntie Felicia when he 
visited for the BoardWaddle, adored his Auntie Angelika and folks fought 
over who got him at the Residence Inn, BoardWaddle weekend. Any off leash 
picnic was a pawty just for him. He would leave us when we set up sales 
tents and return at the end...having rested with about everybody there and 
sharing many lunches. He stayed with Auntie Bonnie and tried every bed in 
her house. He was the senior hound at Sunny's puppy pawty last year...and 
ran and played with the youngsters. He loved visiting Hank and Sharonslave's 
and was the best of buddie's with Taco Woof Bell.

This year has been rough on Nudgie. He couldn't walk anymore. We got a cart 
made for him. Teased him about him needing to live a long time to get use 
out of it. The next day the phone rang. We won the exact price of the cart 
in a friend's church raffle. We are Jewish. Still wondering if Nudgie had 
connections. Hope he is using them, now. He's fought infections and was 
still Nudgie. Till Tuesday night when I came home to find him in serious 
distress and unresponsive. It wasn't pretty and I rushed him to the 
emergency vet. She had a list of possible causes, none of them were pretty 
or had positive prognosis. More importantly, the medication to try and make 
him comfortable was probably going to do him in. She brought him in to us, 
in the same state I found him....looking in his eyes, there was no response.

We are very grateful he was part of our family. In 6 years he never grumped 
at anybody, was unfailingly adorable and aged from an active sitter upper to 
a white faced senior. There's a big hole in the house. Nudgie taught us that 
having another hound doesn't fill a vacancy but that the new houndie can be 
incredibly special. He had his special hound friends and I know Clifford and 
Gilligan and Hugh are sharing the buffet with him....and Woo who he never 
got to meet but with whom he shared a family. I hope he remembers to woof 
what I asked to feyfey, sydney b, woo, newman, taco bell. Nudgie being 
Nudgie, he will, but after a nice meal and a nap.

All things considered, I'd have rather not posted this.....back to our usual 
fundraising. Nudge would have approved.

dawn, rich, cakie and rusty