Remembering Cousin Dusty

9-16-22 – Mournful eyes stared reproachfully at SPHP.  Laying listlessly on the hallway carpet, the Carolina Dog wore an expression of complete and utter boredom.  Back only yesterday from weeks of adventures, and already a clear-cut case of post Dingo Vacation depression!

Great to be home again, aye, Loopster?

I wish we were still in Alaska, SPHP!

Yeah, me too, Looper.  Getting kind of chilly up there by now, though!  Every single day can’t be another grand adventure, you know.  Most of the time, life just isn’t that scintillating.  But you really can’t complain.  We had an awesome summer!

I can complain if I want to, SPHP, because it’s all over and done with now.  You could make things better, though!

Better?  Like how?

We could go on a Black Hills expedition!

Oh, we will, Loop, but not yet.  Got a lot of unpacking, cleaning, yard work, bills to pay, and other catching up to do here first.  Gonna be a while!

Whoooeee!  Don’t all those chores sound delightful?  Have fun, SPHP!  And feel free to start without me.

Sheesh!  Spoiled Dingo!  Actually, we are going to be having fun before too much longer.  I’m checking email.  Listen to this!  Your Aunt Andrea says that she and Uncle Joe will be coming up from Colorado with Cousins Dusty and Laddie on the 21st.  That’s only 5 days from now!

Really, truly?  Finally!  Some good news!  Uncle Joe, Dusty, and Laddie will bring us some action.  They’ll want to go up in the hills!  I can hardly wait!

Finally?  We’ve scarcely been back 24 hours!  My sincere apologies for any dreariness you’ve had to put up with during this extended period of the Dingo entertainment committee’s failure to live up to your exacting standards.

Oh, I’m sorry, SPHP.  We did have a wonderful summer, didn’t we?  It’s just hard to readjust to the same old routine of waiting days, sometimes weeks, for the next adventure.  Know what I mean?  ….  Why, SPHP, whatever’s wrong?  Are you OK?

No.  There’s a second email, Loop.  I just saw it.

Bad news?  They aren’t coming?

Much worse than that, Loop.  They’re still coming, but your Cousin Dusty won’t be with them.  Dusty passed away yesterday morning while we were driving home across Montana.

The terrible, sad news was a shock, but not an entirely unexpected one.  On June 10th, Cousin Dusty had turned sweet 16, admittedly an event that isn’t nearly as sweet for canines as it is for humans.  Dusty had been slowing down the last couple of years, starting to suffer from hearing loss, dogaracts, weakness in her hind legs, and decreasing energy.  Early in 2020, several months before Dusty turned 15, she’d had a large tumor removed.  Happily, the incision had healed completely with no apparent recurrence of the tumor.

The last time Lupe and SPHP had seen Dusty was back in April.  She’d been doing pretty well for her age then.  Dusty had clearly enjoyed being in the Black Hills again, and had even led the pack most of the way to Gimlet Pond and back.

Cousin Dusty is dead, SPHP?  That’s horrible!  Say it isn’t so!

Afraid it is, Lupe.  We won’t ever see Dusty again.  All we have now are the memories of how wonderful and what a great friend she always was.

Memories aren’t the same as seeing her, SPHP!  What happened?

You mean how did she die?  I don’t know, Loop.  The email doesn’t say.  I’ll have to call your Uncle Joe or Aunt Andrea to find out.

SPHP eventually reached Andrea on the phone.  The heart-wrenching story of Dusty’s demise was short and simple.  Dusty had been fine only 2 days ago on September 14th, but then something had transpired that night.  The next morning when Joe and Andrea got up, Dusty was still alive, but in critical condition.  They rushed her to the vet, but there was nothing to be done.  Dusty had suffered a severely crippling stroke or seizure of some sort.  It was the end.

Knowing what happened doesn’t really help, does it, SPHP?  It’s still awful to lose Cousin Dusty!

Yes, it’s dreadful, Loop.  But don’t you think there’s at least some comfort in knowing that Dusty didn’t have to suffer long?  The suddenness is a shock, but a mercy, too.

I guess so, SPHP, but I wish Cousin Dusty was still alive and coming to see us like always.

Me too, Looper!  Dusty was the best ever, wasn’t she?

No denying that, SPHP!  We always had such good times together.  I know Dusty has appeared on my blog fairly often since she made so many trips up to the Black Hills, but would you be willing to gather up some of the best photos and tell about Dusty again?  That way we’ll always have something beautiful to remember her by.

Great idea, Lupe!  I’ll do it.

COUSIN DUSTY

An Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix, Dusty was born on or about June 10, 2006 on an elk ranch in Colorado.  Literally so dirty when Uncle Joe and Aunt Andrea first saw her that they requested she be cleaned up before taking her home, they named their newly acquired adorable puppy Dusty.  She was 3 months old.

The rest of her life, Dusty lived in Arvada, Colorado.  Although Arvada is part of the Denver metropolitan area, Joe and Andrea’s house backs onto 100 acres of undeveloped land along Ralston Creek.  Dusty enjoyed daily walks around the 100 acres, or on the bike path that follows the creek.

Dusty’s favorite activities included fetching ridiculously large sticks, catching Frisbees mid-air, and especially chasing tennis balls.  Exhibiting tremendous speed and agility, and eager for the fun to continue beyond most anyone else’s endurance, she tirelessly plunked tennis balls and Frisbees at one’s feet as many times as you were willing to launch them for her.  During walks around the 100 acres, Dusty almost always sought out a stick, the bigger, the better, then repeatedly trotted ahead to drop it where the stick could be tossed again as soon as you came to it.

Unlike Lupe, Cousin Dusty did not like traveling.  Perhaps she always felt a little car sick?  She rarely displayed the slightest interest in looking out the window, preferring to curl up on the floor behind the front seats for however long it took to get to a destination.  Most of Dusty’s travels were local, of course.  Uncle Joe often took her to various parks, or up into the Rockies.  Spacious White Ranch Park was a frequently visited favorite due to its numerous trails, scenic vistas, and proximity to home.

Dusty’s longer trips were frequently to Grandma and Grandpa’s house on the edge of Spring Creek canyon in the Black Hills.  Dusty had been coming to the Black Hills over long weekends 2 or 3 times a year before Lupe was even born.

Lupe’s arrival was an immediate boon for Dusty.  Before Lupe came along, Dusty was generally confined in the basement when staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Lupe never met Grandpa.  He was gone when Lupe first started coming to see Grandma on a regular basis in early 2011.  Only 2 months old, little Lupe charmed Grandma with her floppy-tipped ears, freckled paws, curly tail, and friendly disposition.

And that spelled the instant demise of Dusty’s basement confinements!  Since Lupe was always granted the run of the house, the next time Dusty appeared, she was, too, which made her Black Hills visits a lot more fun!

From the very start, Dusty and Lupe always got along together.  Their only arguments, which were rare, were over food.  Food was sometimes a problem for Dusty and SPHP, too, but not due to any mutual dispute.  Used to spoiling Lupe, SPHP often shared human food with Dusty.

Not a problem, as far as Dusty was concerned!  She was all for it, and came to expect great things from SPHP.  Pleading, hopeful eyes under the dinner table generally achieved the desired delicious results.  However, this smuggling of tasty tidbits sometimes got SPHP in trouble.  Human food for dogs was a no-no in Joe and Andrea’s household.  Though guilty, SPHP was never really remorseful, other than over simply being caught.  SPHP was Dusty’s trusted partner in crime.

Cousin Dusty sometimes committed food crimes of her own.  Like Lupe, Dusty loved chocolate.  Andrea and Joe eventually learned to stash wrapped boxes of chocolates intended as Christmas presents in places Dusty couldn’t get to.  More than once they had returned home to find that Dusty had sniffed out chocolates under the tree.  The result was not pretty.  You wouldn’t feel all that great, either, if you consumed 5% of your body weight in chocolates, wrappers and all, in one sitting.

Yes, it’s SPHP’s considered opinion that chocolate in sufficient quantities is poisonous to humans and canines alike!  Ahh, but what a way to go!

As the years went by, Lupe occasionally visited Dusty at her home in Arvada, but far more often, it was Dusty who came to the Black Hills.  Either way, there were always long walks, and mountain adventures.  Dusty and Uncle Joe enthusiastically joined Lupe and SPHP on numerous Black Hills expeditions.  At Grandma’s house, there were balls and flying discs to chase, countless journeys to the cul-de-sac and back, and every once in a while, a trek down into Spring Creek canyon.

In Arvada, Lupe always got to stay in Hotel Dusty’s luxurious Cowboy room, participate in jaunts around the 100 acre field, and up Ralston Creek.  A White Ranch Park visit was almost a requirement.  Sometimes there were other destinations, too.  One hike up North Table Mountain (6,570 ft.) was particularly memorable when ordinarily mild-mannered Dusty swam in a muddy pond up on the plateau, and emerged looking ready to go completely feral and join the coyotes.

On rare occasions, when Cousin Mark was around to play the piano, Dusty and Lupe would howl a most charming duet.

COUSIN DUSTY in the Black Hills

Most of the adventures Lupe and SPHP shared with Dusty (& Uncle Joe) occurred during Dusty’s frequent visits to the Black Hills.  Highlights from many of the Black Hills, SD Expeditions they participated in follow in chronological order:

Uncle Joe is a ham radio operator (call sign AA0Q).  Starting in July, 2016, Joe transmitted from several different Black Hills peaks in connection with the Summits on the Air program.  Response was always terrific, overwhelming, in fact.

Dusty and Lupe always enjoyed hanging out on whatever mountain while Joe did his transmitting.  Sadly, the Summits on the Air website eventually changed.  For some reason, Joe lost the ability to log in, putting an end to this sensation.

Tennis balls, enormous sticks, flying discs, smuggled tidbits, contraband chocolates, long walks, countless mountain adventures, swims in lakes and streams!  Through it all, Dusty’s disposition was always cheerful and loving.  Ever eager to join in the next big event, she was a faithful, gentle, true friend and companion.

What so recently was, is no more, a happy life completed.  Still hard to believe, and even harder to accept.  Cousin Dusty will be forever missed by Lupe, SPHP, and her family – Uncle Joe, Aunt Andrea, Cousins Matt, Ryan, and Mark.

Links:

Remembering Cousin Laddie

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