Rudy Sterns-Walling

RUDY “BUBA” STERNS-WALLING
Sadly, my daughter and I had to make a very difficult decision for our beloved Rudy. On Friday, May 21st, 2021 Rudy was painlessly euthanized with my daughter and I by his side. A year before this Rudy experienced knuckling (a sign of neurological deficits/CP). Rudy came to our home just before Thanksgiving weekend in 2015. My daughter saw his picture and In the picture he looked very much like Paige (our now 13 yr old rat terrier we’ve had since she was 10 weeks old) and that he would be going for free. Of course, we couldn’t let that happen. The first place he went to when coming to our home was sit right by my daughter’s feet and lean into her. She told me a few weeks later that Rudy wasn’t going anywhere else, that he was “hers”. So, Paige, Rudy, my daughter and myself became a very loving family. Rudy was exceptional for my both my daughters physical and mental needs, with her special “unique” needs due to developmental delays. Anytime she had surgeries he was with her to protect her and care for her, knowing just where to be so as not to hurt the area she had surgery on. He even let both of us know about 10 minutes before my alarm went off in the middle of the night it was time to have another pain medication. Rudy proved to be smart in showing us how capable he was about opening doors with levers on them, often coming to keep us company in the bathroom, where he proceeded either to sit or lay at our feet. When he became anxious and nervous about things he would jump into our bathtub, knocking shampoo and conditioner containers and soap into the tub. He’d jump in then out, unsure of if he would be less anxious in our out. The most comical thing he did – something I’ve never heard of another dog doing — was jumping into shower with me, not caring about the fact that he was getting soaked by the water. We figured he probably wanted a bath and gave him one right then and there. He’d give us a sign in case we didn’t happen to see that he needed more water by flipping the water dish over, moving it to the middle of the room and once laying on the floor with his paw stretched over it! He definitely knew how to get our attention. While we have good, happy and funny memories, it was difficult to see him in pain and beginning to be more aggressive with us and towards others as well with sudden, more aggressive snapping not realizing he was getting closer to faces. We are so very grateful to Dr. Groth and Shannon at Vet Partners in Edina for all the love and care Rudy was provided with, right to the end. Tears were shed by all. We are also extremely grateful to Pets Remembered for their professional and very caring way they handled every step of his cremation services, calling that day to see if we preferred a certain color for his paw prints to be molded on, and letting us know they would shave a bit of his fur and put it in a small envelope for us.
We didn’t just rescue Rudy, he rescued us. He made our lives complete. He lives on in our hearts always and forever.