The Lion King

We went to look at some Lab pups thinking that we needed a dog at home and we should look around and take our time to get a good pup. We went to a house near the Law College and waited for the owner to show us his full litter of puppies.

While we were waiting one little tawny fellow ran into the room and into our hearts. He adopted us and we never stopped loving him.
Ruff came home in 2004 to our new house when he was 45 days old. Our kids grew up with him and he was as much family as any of us. Being a true Lab, He was always hungry and it was an effort to control his eating.We tried disciplining and training him and even got a retired police trainer to take up the task. The trainer gave up after one week. Ruff used Gandhiji’s passive resistance to full effect and would just lie down and refuse to move when he disagreed with the trainer which was most of the time.
I remember Ruff falling into the little pond when he was a tiny pup. It was only after he kept “falling” that we realized that he was jumping into the pond and having fun.
Through good times and bad times, Ruff was the centre of gravity in our house and the one calm and sure anchor all of us went for solace and cheering up.
He died in 2015 and it’s just not the same without him. He will live forever in our hearts.
A handsome devil, I always thought of him as the Lion King.