Rufus pays respects

In 2015 I adopted out a young male sable shepherd named Roo, (now Rufus) to a woman who lived in Crozet. I might have adopted to her previously, I'm not sure, but I know I had done home visits there for VGSR. Her husband died and at some point she moved to Westminster Canterbury, a senior living facility in Charlottesville, taking her two dogs with her. Living there with the dogs didn't work out, but rather than giving up the dogs she moved back to her home in Crozet. She required assistance, however, and Rufus became very protective of her and leery of strangers coming to the house. Her caregivers contacted me about possibly taking Rufus when they had trouble staffing to meet her needs because of people who were uncomfortable around Rufus. They managed however, and I didn't hear from them again until the woman moved out of the home for good and into an assisted living situation. It was then that I took in Rufus, because he had been my former foster, and I took Mellie too because she was a nice girl, she needed a home, and I wasn't about to leave her behind.

Both dogs settled in here very well after getting past the first week or two of shell shock and the German Shepherd hunger strike. Rufus and Mellie were both morbidly obese and I started them on a restrictive diet. Mellie did the green bean diet so she still got a pretty normal volume of food, but most of it consisted of canned green beans. Rufus held onto the hunger strike longer than Mellie and I never could get him to eat the green beans, he just got a very small portion of kibble. In spite of their weight, both dogs were very active and really enjoyed time outdoors and running in the pasture. Rufus dropped weight fast running after the golden, Hugo, as Hugo chased the disc, a ball, or whatever I was throwing. It took longer before Mellie's weight loss began to show, but it did and it has continued in her new home. Mellie got adopted a few weeks back and is doing very well in her new home. She is well loved.

That brings us up to earlier this week when I received an email saying that the former owner had died. A memorial service was scheduled for today and I decided to attend, with Rufus. I wasn't going to crash the party at the church, but I figured I'd show up with Rufus before and after so that anyone who wanted to would have the chance to see Rufus again. I had floated the idea in a "reply all" email that had notified me and others about the service. A couple people responded very positively to the idea so Rufus and I loaded up and headed to the Olivet Presbyterian church outside Charlottesville ahead of the noon service.

I arrived only about ten minutes before the service was to begin so I didn't meet more than a couple people, but we waited in the parking lot and I spent the time grooming Rufus, who is blowing his coat in typical shepherd fashion. The memorial service in the church was followed by a committal service in the church yard. Everyone came out and the pastor, the family, and several friends stopped to greet Rufus. We followed them to the gravesite and attended that part of the service. The pastor was very gracious and remarked that it was the first service he had conducted that had a dog in attendance but added that he thought it was a wonderful idea. 

Several of those in attendance stopped to talk and to greet Rufus after it was over and expressed how happy they were that we had attended. I didn't know Alice all that well, but I knew her well enough to know that she'd as soon have her dogs in attendance as any of the people who were present. A lot of her family and friends were genuinely happy to see Rufus and to know that both Rufus and Mellie were doing well.