Can Ch Kyon’s Rock’n Roll (OS) (1988-2003)
Rocky (ch Kyon’s Rock’n Roll-OS) suddenly died this past Sunday morning (February 16th/03). The world seems a much emptier place now, without him. Born in 1988, he had a long and happy life and although he had been declining somewhat in the last couple of weeks, he was only unwell briefly – for a short 24 hrs.
He suffered a minor stroke Saturday, but was still fine enough to move around – and still ate his evening treat. True to form he woke us Sunday morning, at 7 am, insisting to be let out to do his regular business. When he came back in he seemed tired, but content. He quickly went to sleep, on his new mat by the fireplace – with his 9 week old great-grandson curling up in-between Rocky’s big and sturdy paws.
Rocky adored puppies and they loved him in return. He always slept with our puppies, by choice- he always was surrounded by puppies (again by choice), he led the way for them all, in his gentle kind manner. He was endlessly patient.
Only 15 minutes after we had gone back to bed this past Sunday morning, the dogs in the kitchen started barking again- and when we rushed downstairs Rocky was already gone. This time he had obviously had a major stroke, which swiftly had ended his long life.
He was a truly wonderful dog and a most kind-hearted gentle spirit. A sweeter soul we have not known.
We are so grateful for having had Rocky in our life. Also we are eternally thankful for the quick and easy way that he left us. No painful decision had to be made, no prolonged suffering occurred. He died at home and at peace. His death did not come us a shock. We had the clear warning the night before, that he was going to leave us very soon. Thus we had already whispered our goodbyes…
Rocky is fondly remembered and deeply missed
by
Karin Klouman, Wally Barr and the Barr-Klouman Family
One Response
I wrote this letter after my Baillie was gone as a tribute to his life. I thought you would be interested:
Dear family and friends,
Today, Saturday, July 14, 2012, just 11 days short of his 14th birthday we had to put our much loved, loyal friend Baillie to sleep. We have been struggling to feed him and get him to drink water for the last four months and he had been losing weight rapidly. He appeared naucious and just not happy anymore. It was very sad, I have cried all week. Luckily, he enjoyed an extremely healthy life before that with only a few ear infections, both ear flaps filled with fluid about 2 months apart (they were syringed out, flushed with steroids and it didn’t happen again). He recovered from Geriatric Vestibular Disease last March which started his disinterest in food. At his heaviest he was 90 lbs (I changed jobs and it was hard to go on long walks for a time) but normally less than that. Wherever we went I had many compliments on how he looked.
He went everywhere with us, sailing, camping, grandma and grandpa’s house (which he especially liked when food crumbs dropped to the floor).
Baillie came into our lives as a lively puppy just prior to my son starting Kindergarten (He was 4 then and 19 now, he can’t remember a time without him). We called him many nick names, Bails, Bud, Buddy, Puppy, Noodle etc. The first words from our eldest daughter, whenever she came home was “Where is my Baydee Noodle?” (not “hi mum, how are you doing?”). She has been living away from home for about four years now.
He came with a micro chip and a show name, ‘Tallygolds Riding the Wind’. Each puppy in the litter’s show names started with an ‘R’ so the breeder told us because his parents were called Rocky (Ch Kyon’s Rock ‘n Roll) and Rosie (Storiline Rose of Sharon). The breeders both lived in the Shelburne area in Ontario. We took my mum to pick out our puppy. There were 2 females and 5 males, we chose the second least lively male, because together they were all very rambunctious. My mum, knowing that having a puppy late in life would be too much for them, asked me if we could share him. And share him we did. My parents looked after him when we went away and gave him the same love that we did. Maybe more, he was spoiled at the grandparents house, jam on toast etc …. For this, we will be forever grateful. He loved car rides because he thought he was going to their house.
As a puppy he enjoyed the much needed the rest when the kids were in school. When we went to the forest he always came to me the instant I called him even if he was following the scent of a squirrel. He would stop dead in is tracks and race back. Out on our street however, that was a little different, he somehow had temporary hearing loss, but never ventured too far alone. He always wanted us close by. Even in the back yard, if we were inside, that is where he wanted to be, never staying outside longer than he had to. He only got sprayed by a skunk once, he had to sleep in our outside room that night!
Baillie hated squirrels from the beginning. When he was about a year old and very lively, my husband thought that he would take Bails for a walk while he rode his bike. Big mistake! Along came a squirrel, Baillie ran, my husband did a flip over the handlebars and ended up with a fractured wrist. That was the first and last time.
I remember having a cookie exchange when he still a puppy and slept in his crate in the kitchen. We had boxes of cookies and goodies piled high on his crate and he just slept through it. How many animals would do that? Maybe because we never gave him any scraps from the table and he didn’t expect it. If something dropped to the floor in our house I picked it up before he could get to it!
Even though he was a Golden Retriever or ‘hunting dog’, he was scared of ducks and didn’t like swimming too much. He did have a bird in his mouth once but didn’t know what to do with it. He fell off the boat in the marina twice, one of those times my husband had to go in after him.
I remember when my Dad took him for long walks along trails near Bolton. On one occasion, my daughter went with him. She was laying down doing a snow angel in the snow and Baillie was running around in circles, enjoying life as he did. To her surprise he jumped the full length of her from her feet to the other side of her head. How he didn’t land on her face I shall never know.
Because I walked in the forest alone with him, I started to wonder what he would do should I hurt myself or fall unconscious while he was with me. One day I decided to fall and lay down on the ground without moving. Baillie just bounced over to me and sat on my legs. We stayed very still for quite a while. I think he would have sat there for days waiting for someone to come looking for us. This eased my mind when my dad also went off into the Bolton wilderness with him alone.
Thunderstorms were a terrifying experience for Baillie. I came in from work a number of times to find his food all over the back room floor. It even shot into the front hall. We tried many things to overcome his fear, Gravol, blankets etc. I spent many nights on the couch trying to calm him, it was better if we talked him through his fear. My daughter would also sleep in the basement with a sleeping bag over the both of them together hiding from the storm.
As a puppy, he would go in the laundry room and eat the kids socks, then he would poop them out 3-5 days later. I even found a $5.00 bill out there. He only ever went upstairs in our house once that I can remember. I told him off and he never climbed the stairs again. We kept all of our children’s toys up there and he loved to chew on hard plastic. He badly chewed a watering can once and I put it outside the front door with a sign on it saying ‘Beware of the dog!’ I laughed when a salesman came to the door, rang the doorbell then ran to the end of the garage and talked to me from there. Ha, it worked!
Needless to say, we will all miss him dearly, think of him often and thank him for the many memories. I think that buying Bails was the best thing we did for our children. Often late at night, they would come home from wherever they had been and just lay quietly with him before coming upstairs to bed. It is hard to find another companion like that who gives total devotion.
I would like to thank my old friend Dr. Dave Kerr, who guided us through the years with our dog.
And to my parents who always had their arms open for him and cared for him as we did.
May ‘our puppy’ rest in peace forever.
July 25th, 1998 – July 14th, 2012