The best day of my life was when I got Duke. It was the summer between kindergarten and first grade. He wasn’t what you would call your “average beagle.” He was a field beagle, which meant that he was bigger, fuzzier and more hound-like. As a young buck, he would grab stuffed animals off my (or my sister’s) bed and rip them apart. In his older age, he still stole stuffed animals, but he never ripped them up. He only did it for attention. I called him such nicknames as “The Duke” and “Dukey-Wookums.” He was a great dog, indeed.
In April of 2005, the vet discovered that he had a tumor in his thyroid. Since we didn’t want to take our chances with chemotherapy, we decided to put him down. It was a hard descision, but we knew that it was best for him.
Duke is virtually irriplacable. Never will there be another beagle that is as big, fuzzy, funny and sweet as Dukey. As long as his ashes are in our living room, he will always be with us.
With love,
| Duke |
| J. S. |