The Best $100 I Ever Spent = Rudy

Today was extremely hard and painful for me because the dog I've had for almost half of my life got to the point where he needed to be put down. His mind was still great but his body just gave out on him, the back part of it did anyway. I had a lot of time to think today. I woke up a little before Chris and after I got the girls started on breakfast I went outside to give Rudy his pain pills, which have been part of our routine for a while now. Today was different though because while he wanted to move around, his hind end just wasn't cooperating. When I gave him a little lift (which often was just what he needed to get going) he didn't even really try to stand up and my heart broke. I watched him for the next hour to see if maybe it was just some extra stiffness and hoping that he'd get up on his own when he felt like it. Needless to say it didn't happen. We've known this day was coming but it didn't make it any easier. I told Chris that instaed of taking down Christmas decorations like we'd planned that we were going to say goodbye to Rudy today. He was so sweet giving me time to give Rudy a bath in our big tub and knew just when to take the girls out of the room to give me some time alone (to cry) with one of my oldest friends. He kept the girls busy while I dried Rudy's hair, still crying off and on the whole time. We put him in front of the Christmas tree, gave him treats, took pictures, let the girls tell him goodbye, and when I couldn't think of any other reason to continue to delay the inevitable we loaded him up on his bed in the back of my Expedition and took our dog to our vet - which thankfully is Chris' friend he grew up with - his nextdoor neighbor in fact.

Rudy was my dog. He was my gift for my 16th birthday, although I got him a few weeks early (6-1-1995). He cost my parents $100, which at the time was RIDICULOUS for a cross breed cow dog (a/k/a mutt) and I'm pretty sure we didn't tell my dad that we paid anything at all (you could get a free dog from the co-op afterall). I named him based on the movie Rudy because while he didn't seem like much to most other people, I knew from the beginnig what an amazing heart he had. He totally lived up to his name. This dog was with me when I was showing calves in highschool, he lived with me all through college, had a few years stay in El Campo without me when I was in law school, and has lived more than 5 years in San Antonio with us. He was always with me and definitely loved me best of all! He was never mean to other dogs or people. He would ride in the back of my truck when we went to the pasture in highschool and would help nip at the heels of my showsteers if they didn't want to walk for me when I was working with them at home. In college we always went running in Wolf Pen Creek park. After several trips to the animal shelter on Finfeather (when he was picked up after escaping our yard) he got microchipped and neutered!! It was hard to not have him around when I was in Waco but every time I went home he'd greet me with the same enthusiasm and sweetness he always had for me. I was so happy when we got our house in San Antonio because he could be with me again. He was with me as I grew into the person I am now - there during every major event in my life; my joys, my heartaches, graduations, marriage, children... He always loved trips back to El Campo and out to the ranch. I could (and did) trust him completely with my daughters. I hope that one day they have a dog as good as he was.

I had a lot of time to think on the road today. My parents met me 1/2 way between El Campo and San Antonio so he could be buried by the calf pens at my parents house. He and my horse, Dandy, used to run the fence back and forth with Rudy barking excitedly and Dandy throwing his head and tearing around the pasture. Anytime I went to the calf pens (which was every day several times a day in highschool) Rudy was always right on my heels. He was happy there.

I thought about how long I'd had him and how many wonderful memories I have with this dog. I thought of about a million pictures of him that I have and love and was trying to think about which ones to post. I decided to post only one picture of just him because I just couldn't decide on all the others. And so the best $100 I ever spent (actually my parents spent- and humor me by excluding food, vet bills etc...) was Rudy because for the 5371 days he was alive (4/18/1995 - 1/3/2010), he was mine for 5327 days, which means the price of happiness for me was $0.0187 / day. When my girls are older, if they ask for their own dog I'll be sure to get them one. No matter how ridiculous the price seems at the time, the return on my investment will be priceless.