Duke was my 13-year-old Pekingese. He enjoyed napping and smelling things. He was the best.
You can pay your respects here. (They'll stay private.)
.It’s been a year since we lost Duke. I still miss that guy every day.
He was such a good dog. Calm, loyal, kinda cranky. He was my best friend, and I’m thankful I got to meet him.
Remember, if you ever want to look at old Duke photos, there’s always the archive, or you can jump to a random post. Those have helped me when I really miss him.
Anonymous asked: duke & duke's family - i just came across a photo of a Pekingese named charlie on squishfacedogs (it won't let me post it here) and was reminded of duke. duke will always be in my heart, his face had so much personality and you could tell just from the photos and captions how much he was loved. we miss you duke!
Thanks for the note! We miss him, too. He was the best.
I found Charlie on squishfacedogs and oh my goodness, he really does look a lot like Duke.
Amy and I think about Duke every day. We made a 2012 calendar using photos of him so his photos are always there in our kitchen.
When we lost him, we had this big hole in our hearts. Every day for the least two years, we put all this love into taking care of him, and when he was gone, that love had nowhere to go. We couldn’t channel it into anything. It hurt.
Then, in January, Amy found a orangish brown Pekingese on Petfinder. Apparently he’d been sealed into a cardboard box and thrown into a dumpster in the dead of winter. Someone heard him rustling around in there and took him to a nearby vet, who took excellent care of him, and now they were trying to find him a home. As soon as he was healthy again, we went to visit him and within hours we were taking him home. We named him Barnabas, or “Barney” for short.
But Barney was young, and we figured he might want company during the day. So, in April, Amy found a fluffy white Pekingese on Petfinder. His name was Jay, and his owner had given him up because she had to go back to school while working. We met him at a PetSmart adoption event. I hesitated at first, because it’d been so long since I’d had a small white Pekingese on my lap. (You ever break down in a PetSmart? It’s… awkward.) But in the end, we took Jay home, and now he’s ours.
And that’s how it works, I guess. I wasn’t a dog person before Duke, and then I grew to love him, and now I’m a dog person. Then when he left, I was still a dog person, I just didn’t have a dog. That love had to go somewhere, so we found Barney and Jay, and now they receive all the care and attention that Duke taught us to have.
Duke may be gone, but his memory lives on as we take the love he taught us and pay it forward.
Last night I made this animated gif of Duke high fiving, because that’s what you do when you love something: you make a gif of it.
(Source: youtube.com)
I can’t believe I couldn’t find this photo on the blog already! This is what Duke used to do when we took him out and his paws got cold. He’d sit down, raise one paw, and wait for us to carry him home.
I’d always pick him up and rub his paw so it’d get warm faster. Sometimes he’d gently nip at me because I’m sure he didn’t want anyone touching his paw if it was hurting. It was never fierce enough to really hurt me. Just enough to say “please don’t do that.” But then he was ready to frolic through the snow again in no time!
(And of course we had tiny boots for him! He just hated wearing them, so we’d let him walk around barefoot and make sure we steered clear of any salt on the sidewalk. If he got too cold, we’d just carry him home and swaddle him in a towel ‘til he was warm again.)
Here’s Duke tearing through his puzzle like a champion. When we first got this thing it took him a few minutes to figure it out. He eventually got it down to where he could tear through it in about 20 seconds.
Duke really liked his puzzle. One time I forgot I left it on a chest in our living room and he started barking at it. (You can see Amy getting it for him at the end of the video; we didn’t mean to tease him!)
Duke used to play with his toy basket, but only when he got into weird moods. He’d cry at the basket and walk around it until we tipped it over, then he’d dig into it.
I love this video because it captures those moments pretty well. I miss that little goofball.
Here’s a video from last March. We’d just gotten that melanoma on his back removed a few days prior, and you can tell by his energy that he was already feeling better.
Amy and I visited Duke’s foster parents over Christmas weekend. It felt great to be in a loving home full of happy pekes (plus one beagle/min pin mix). Big thanks to Marsha and John for having us over.
Also, today I showed Amy all the sweet messages you’ve been leaving us after Duke’s passing. She read them all and she’d like to extend her thanks to everyone who left a message. Your kind words have helped us as we continue to grieve.
I found an older video of Duke hanging out on the couch with me.
It’s from February 2011. I like that he was so content to just lounge. I mean I guess that makes sense, though. It’s not like he had a bunch of big deadlines at his dog job or anything, but yeah. Those moments were nice.
I like that look he gives me at the end, like “Wait, why are you moving? Are we not lounging anymore?” Then I explained to him how cameras worked, and we both had a laugh.
Amy shares a Duke memory:
I love this picture of him. I think what made Duke so adorable were his expressive eyes. Here, he’s being very sweet — but he’s still probably growling at the same time. He was complicated. I loved that.
Amy brings up a good point: Duke was a unique little crankerpuss. She’d pick him up, he’d growl a bit, then he’d eventually let her rub his tummy. It was hilarious; he clearly liked her and knew she was part of his pack, but he wanted to be the alpha dog despite being no bigger than a bread box.
Man, we loved holding this guy.
He was still so independent, though, so even though he trusted us, sometimes we’d pick him up and he’d look like he was thinking, “What? How come I’m up now?”
Some of you have expressed interest in making a donation in Duke’s honor. Amy and I thought about which dog charities would make the most sense, and these are the two we settled on:
Duke knew the importance of giving dogs a second shot (or, in Duke’s case, third or fourth shot) at a great life. Duke came from Midwest Small Breed Rescue, a rescue that knows how much value and love senior dogs can bring to our lives. You can support Midwest Small Breed Rescue at: http://members.petfinder.com/~MI559/donations.html.
Duke also came to know and love Chicago. A wonderful organization in Duke’s adopted “hometown” called New Leash on Life in Chicago also gives dogs a second chance by finding loving homes for shelter dogs who might otherwise be euthanized. You can support New Leash on Life here: https://newleash.ipower.com/chicago/donationform.asp.
Thanks again for your kind words. I’ve still got a ton of photos I want to share, and even though he’s gone, I hope they’ll bring you joy.
Duke’s foster mom, Marsha, sent us a very sweet message about the time we took Duke to visit her and the other foster pups after we’d had him for a year:
Duke will always be very special to us. We remember the day we went to pick him up from the lady that had adopted him the year before you did. We pulled into her driveway and got out of the car and the lady opened the door and Duke came flying out to meet us. He wanted to get in the car and go. He was so different when he went to you. Last year when you came to visit on Thanksgiving we knew he had the very best and the right people for him. He left our house and didn’t look back.
This means the world to me. Amy and I like to think we gave him a good home, and that he knew he was loved. We miss him so much.
Here’s how Amy explains the above photo, taken the morning of July 20, 2011, to me:
Duke was ready to start his day. He started by crawling to the back of the bed, then crying at me and pawing at my face. When I pretended to still be asleep, he climbed over to you and onto your chest. Then, when you weren’t stirring, he got frustrated and decided to sit down… on your face.
You got up after that. He was a very smart dog.
(Also, my apologies for showing so much bare torso in a photo. I realize that’s a weird thing to share, but I like this picture too much to not share it, even if it features my dog’s butt on my face.)
