Stu Brockhoff 2001-2013

April 11, 2013

Stu never slept without a pillow. Refused to be left out of human conversation. Carried my Ugg boot from bedroom to kitchen for breakfast every day. Barked and danced and spun in circles for every meal. Constantly stole my chair regardless of the identical chair next to it. He was a naughty boy at The Swamp, going on forays through heaviest bramble to take his own walk and causing the need for a GPS collar to save his Dad from recurring heart failure.

Stu was the comic genius in this household of six old girls who have lost their leader- how will they know when its time for meals and walks and Happy Hour without Stu's internal clock?

When we learned in 2006 that Operation Greyhound had a pair who needed a home (soon after we had lost Charles and Diana within three months of one another) we packed for a trip to Southern California to fetch them. Adopting seniors as we do, Stella qualified at nine years, but Stu was only six. There was no choice- if we wanted Stella, we had to take Stu.

When brought out of their kennels and into a fenced area, we gasped at the sight: Stella was a shy and frightened little bitty thing with one and a half ears, but Stu? He was a maniac! OMG, what have we gotten ourselves into here?", we thought. Stu barked and chased his tail and jumped in the air and did tailspins- we worried what he'd do in the van for a two-day trip to Northern CA, but we'd agreed. We wanted poor little senior Stella even if we had to accept this youthful brute to get her.

It's thanks to our good friend, Wally, that the family who had adopted Stu & Stella agreed to release these two back to Operation Greyhound from a totally outdoor life where they were terrorized by a wolf hybrid. The boy ended up transforming our household of seniors and entertaining us all with his antics for six very special years. Whoda thunk?

Thank you, Wally, for helping to assure Stu & Stella found a better future, and for allowing me to inundate you with silly pillow pictures of our most entertaining, most affectionate baby boy.

What are we going to do with all Stu's red fluffy pillows? I can't bear to think about it.