The Rip Van Wrinkler, XVI, Issue 3, August 2012

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In Memoriam

Scroll down for more on Hank's Passing by Cheryl Silver

Poe

Poe – Apu T R Eye (12/31/99 ~ 5/16/12)

He was too young, and gone too soon. Mr. Poe left us yesterday morning early.
His little body just was too tired.
He wasn’t with us long enough, but we loved him with all our hearts. Tamara & Dennis Allen

in January 2000

Keath Rhymer:  I am so very very sorry. Father Sky will take care of Poe now restoring him to youth and health. Assigned Bs are standing by to take him to the Meadows at the Great Plains to play and where he will be to welcome you home when it is time to join together never parting again. Father thanks you for your love of his warrior son and taking him out of harms way and surrounds you in his arms.


Abbey

 

Sadly Ch. Anya's FyreLyte "Abbey" was put to sleep on Dec. 20, 1998 - July 5, 2012.
I got her from Sam Anderson (US). She came to me at 6 months of age,
lived happily with Anja (Dietz), 2 kids and her family…..Uschi Grewe


Dream

Dream & Shel

Dream...... Premier's Dream Weaver ( December 15, 1997 - June 26, 2012 )

 Today there is an empty spot beside us, an empty space in our bed, and a huge hole in our hearts
and the grief is great for a little Basenji Girl was loved so well ............  Dawn Crowell Donaldson


Sidney

Ch. Rafikis Not A Moment Too Soon JC FCh

On a warm, sunny Thursday morning, June 7th, our Sydney passed over the bridge, in my arms, at age 16 and a half years of age.  When my daughter Amy was in junior showmanship, showing my retired basenji Dodger (Ch Sonbars Celestial Xenith), I promised her that when she turned 14 she could pick out her own puppy to raise, train, show and love.  From two litters whelped by Michelle Gahgan, Rafiki Basenjis, in December 1995, Amy selected a plain red bitch from her choice of any of the puppies.  Some were darker red, some had flashier markings, but Amy only had eyes for the little plain bitch.  We visited every weekend and by 5 weeks she was sure that this was the one. 

We brought Sydney home in February 1996 and thus started a wonderful relationship that included her AKC bench championship at age 10 months, top junior showmanship awards for several years, a group win and multiple group placements, a top ten basenji year end finish, a regional specialty win, and two litters.  I had the pleasure of lure coursing Sydney for several years - a very keen, honest bitch who ran clean on every course and made us so proud. 

The years pass so quickly.  One day Amy brought home a young man named Adam and Sydney accepted him into the family.  When Amy and Adam married in 2006, we felt that Sydney should stay with me in the only home she had ever known.  She was the easiest basenji to live with.  She gave us daughters Casey and Flora, and granddaughter Miranda.  Lisa Marshall


How can a heart be so full and so empty at the same time? by Cheryl Silver

Today I brought Hank's ashes home.  He is in the living room where he often chose to be.  It is heartbreaking to see that small box and imagine that is my boy.

Two days ago I dozed off on the couch in the middle of the day.  My hubby got home and the noise startled me awake.  I asked the time and was told it was 4 p.m.  I jumped up and ran to the kitchen saying I needed to give Hank his 3 o'clock pills, but the pills were not there nor was Hank.  There was nothing for me to do.   I have been giving him his meds six times a day for so many years it is feeling very different without the need to do that.

Since his diagnosis of Fanconi Syndrome the month of his 4th birthday about 10 1/2 years ago he has not been away from me.  I *always* am the one giving him his meds---tending to him--being with my boy.

Between his pillings he was just "Hankster Prankster," a very special guy.  So many of you have written reminding me of his first weeks here with me when I believed I was fostering him but I was writing near daily updates on his antics.  When it finally occurred to me that he was home, how many of you wrote and said, "I knew that all along; Hank was already home; he isn't going anywhere."  Well, you were right.

He was just a youngster when I got him from the pound and gave him the name, "Hank," thinking that a Texan-type name would help with adoption.   The boy had been at the pound for 21 days because he was not causing anyone any trouble and they didn't realize that basenjis came in "tri" coloring so they never contacted rescue until someone explained it to them.  I ran down to see him and took some roasted chicken with me and that's how it all started.

Hank settled into a house with six other dogs without incident.   He was great about getting along --- if you weren't a mousy or a squirrel!

His favorite chew toy from the beginning (he was about 5 months old when he got here) was our leather couch cushions, the leather ottoman and the leather chair.  He loved pulling folded towels out of the shelves, dragging bags of potatoes around scattering them everywhere, pulling laminate off the kitchen cabinets---the longest piece had to be a strip that was more than 10 feet long.   I still have my t-shirt that says, "One can never have too many dogs" even though he chewed the armpit out of one sleeve.  The windowsill here in my office is exquisitely notched and pierced from little basenji teeth.

Oh, the day we all ran to the kitchen to see small appliances and mixing bowls fly out of the cabinet.  Hank was inside and was kicking things out of his way. Soon he appeared with a mouse in his mouth that he carried high as he ran down the hallway with his prize.

Of course, there was the fateful day I heard him running down the hallway toward my office and found him carrying a rotisserie chicken in the plastic container!!  I put it back imagining I had not closed the fridge door adequately.   Wrong!!  He had mastered the art of opening the fridge and we went through weeks of trying to foil that behavior.  The straw that broke the camel's back was when he opened it and allowed my Great Dane mix access to 7 1/2 lbs of ground beef, which made him exceedingly ill. Shortly after that we bought a new fridge with a freezer on the bottom. That solved the problem. sigh.

When out in public, Hank was the model of decorum and I was accused numerous times of creating stories that surely couldn't be true----ha!!  When we shared a room with new acquaintances at a National Specialty, in the middle of the night, they learned first-hand about the antics he could pull while people slept.  Oh, and the time we visited a basenji friend (Anne Nored) up near Dallas. Imagine my horror when I awoke the morning after our first night there only to find the room full of bright green "fluff" that he had pulled out of a couch cushion as I slept............baaaaaaad Hank.

All that said Hank was such a good representative of basenjis to the world.  He passed his American Temperament Test trial without problems.   He got is CGC with less than finesse, but he did what was required <g>.

I remember taking him to a huge Airedale event where he took part in all the trials and earned many points but I was told he could not get a prize because he was not an Airedale. Hank could have cared less..

Hank was a snuggle bug, especially in cold weather and never did he snap at anyone who disturbed his sleep---he was more like a wet noodle. <g>

My workout trainer used to call him "Little Prince" because he carried himself elegantly.   He was always a welcome guest at our neighborhood gatherings where children could pet him--his calm demeanor in their presence put them at ease.

Remember the dead squirrel Hank put on my bed?  Remember how he would torment Katie Ruth, his b-mix sister?  She let him get away with everything every day of her life?  Remember how he adored Leo my Love, my Great Dane mix, and how he would run through his legs like weave poles?  Remember how the ten Airedale pups I fostered tormented poor Hank and how he would leap up on the couch to get away from them, but he was never ugly to them and they adored him.

I could go on and on and on......I remember him playing with Cosmo in the hotel room in Scottsdale and how he *loved*, Ioved, loved lure coursing.....I remember how easily he fit in with all of Eva Allen's crew when we would visit her.  I remember visiting a friend who had a large yellow lab mix who wanted to sleep with me when we visited and how confused that lab was when he watched Hank exploring under the sheets kind of like a gopher on the bed we shared.

My sweet boy.........

I have been looking at so many pictures of you and it has helped me realize that you did have a full life and that you did help many, many people see that a boy with Fanconi could have a grand life.  It has also helped me realized that you really had grown old and frail. How fortunate to have so many years. 


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