Rudder the Sea Dog Oct 2000 - Feb 2009

Rudder came to us back in December 2000. He was a strong brute of a puppy and was cute as a button. The cutest of all Chocolate Lab puppies. We learned many things that winter including the fact that getting a puppy in December in Nova Scotia means house training in the winter with snow and such and that isn’t a good idea. People told us that the best thing to do with a puppy was to keep them in a crate most of the time. He could sleep in there and it would become his den. A safe place he’d love to be. Ha! He whined and he cried for hours that first night, and the second, and the third. We tried everything to be good and disciplined dog parents, but eventually we learned to accept that Rudder would sleep in bed with us. We kept him in his crate when we went to work. He learned how to squeeze out of the sides of the crate. We put clips on the side of the crate. He still got out of the crate. We learned that crating isn’t the best thing for all dogs! For a lab, he actually didn’t chew all that much stuff. He left the baseboards alone, and the furniture. I do remember him ruining my good leather boots, but for folks with a puppy we didn’t loose too much. Accept maybe our sanity. There was more than one occasion when either Dave or I had had enough of him. It was time to put him down. It was time to find a new home for him. Once I called a dog-trainer that bred labs, looking for some moral support, or maybe some suggestions on what to do. She said that she euthanized all the Chocolate Labs that were born at her kennel as they are a genetic mutation and they are unstable. Thanks. But we persevered – we are very stubborn people. He went to obedience class, not once, but twice. He spent most of the time alone with me on the stage when all the other dogs were working nicely together in the gym. He just couldn’t get over the excitement of seeing those other dogs! Obedience class was all about positive re-enforcement and he was supposed to get a treat for everything he did right. He was so over-the-top to get that treat that it created bad behaviour and we had to stop giving him treats. Several years later, Dave ran into the dog trainer, and mentioned that Rudder was our dog. She asked if we still had him, and when Dave said we did, she said "He sure was lucky to get you as a family". For a couple of years we had to stop taking him for walks where there would be other people. He was so unpredictable. He could be great, but every once in a while he would get really upset – either excited or scared. One thing that would set him off was if someone was carrying a large bag… And of course, there was always the challenge when he saw another dog…
Then came the allergy years. When Rudder was about two, he started chewing all the fur off his feet. The vet put him on steroids to stop the itching, and while that did mitigate the itching, it created a whole new set of behaviours. In hindsight, we think some of the bad behaviour on walks and his over-the-top excitement about everything was because of the steroids. It also made him obsessed with food. You couldn’t leave a bread crust on the counter for 30 seconds, even if you were in the kitchen. He would jump up on the kitchen table if the crust of a peanut butter sandwich were left there. Once he ate a whole basket of peaches, pits and all, that I had carefully put in the sink so he wouldn’t eat them. I can’t count the number of times he would pull on the corner of a bag that didn’t get properly closed in the cupboard to get the cupboard door open. We lost countless loaves of bread, and more than one bag of Halloween candy that way. When he was feeling particularly sorry for himself, eating socks or underwear seemed to be on his agenda… We got pretty meticulous at making sure everything was put away, carefully, every day.
When Rudder was about seven, the steroids started to deteriorate his muscles and that had to stop. He was put on prescription dog food (think $$’s), and a new medicine that was used in transplants in humans (think more $$’s) but he did get better for a while. Then he got worse again and we limped him along until the summer with hopes that life at sea would be good for him.
You’re probably wondering why we would bother. Rudder was such a kind and loving dog to our family and we had so much fun with him. Probably our favourite thing to do with Rudder was to swim. He was the best swimmer I ever saw. When you were in the water with him you could grab his tail and he would pull you around. I’m sure he could swim a mile if he needed to. He was obsessed with pulling things in the water. We have a raft at the cottage and he would spend 10 minutes at a time trying to pull it into shore.
Rudder was having a great time on the trip. He got to spend all his time with his people. He got to meet lots of other people and everyone was nice to him. People rarely scared him anymore. He still got really excited when he saw other dogs, particularly golden retrievers, but he could walk right by some dogs without a second glance. His allergies were getting under control. We could have other people over to the boat and after Rudder said "hello" for a couple of minutes he would go off and lie down.
On Thursday morning we were doing our final trip to shore before we headed off to the Bahamas. Dave and Annie took Rudder to a little fenced area where he could go off leash and run around. Kristen and I took the bikes to the grocery store. There was a small gap in the gate in the dog run area and Dave and Annie tied it together with two straps. They took him down to the other end of the run and took him off his leash. He bolted right down the run and over the straps and was off to find Kristen and I. Dave took off after him but once Rudder had something in his head there was no stopping him. He ran to the highway and didn’t see us down the sidewalk so he took off across the road. He was struck by a little truck. When Dave carried him back to the sidewalk he was still alive. There was no blood. He died about five minutes later. There were three sheriff cars that stopped and helped. Someone went back to the park to get Annie. The animal shelter came to get Rudder and took Dave, Annie and Rudder down to find Kristen and I at the grocery store. Rudder is going to be cremated in Marathon in about a week and they are going to keep his ashes for us until we get back to Florida.
We left Marathon right away as we just couldn’t stand the thought of staying there.