Though our trip was wonder-filled and relaxing, it was marked by the passing of both Nick's grandfather Raymond Dunn and our dog, Rugen.
First, about the dog: I had gotten a few e-mails in the week preceding our return home about our dog Rugen, whom my parents were caring for during these two years. Apparently he had eaten something strange on a walk, which is nothing out of the ordinary. Then he got a little sick and stopped eating completely. So, he went to the vet, where it was found that his kidneys were shutting down. Okay, a little serious, but his system could be flushed and they might crank back up. He was walking around, not too down while at the vet. Three days later, however, he started to suffer and there was no improvement, so my parents had to make the decision to put him down. This was devastating to find out in the few hours we had to sit in freezing Xi'an between a 35-hour train ride and a 4-hour ride home to Tianshui. We were in the crappiest internet bar I've ever seen: about 11 computers in a storefront with curling gaming posters on the wall, cigarette ash all over the floor, and some plastic curtains for a door, which you see in supermarkets behind the meat counter. I couldn't believe I was in China, freezing, and we wouldn't have my sweet dog to greet us when we went back to the US.
So, here are a few quick stories about Rugen in commemoration:
I got Rugen for $80 at Petsmart on a Saturday with my friend Summer. He was pretty compliant, just walking around the store and sniffing stuff. I put him in the cart while we picked up food bowls, a leash and harness, and various hygiene items. When we got home, I wasn't sure what to do because it was my first dog, but I figured it out soon enough. He was a rescue dog with a single previous owner who gave him back because she "went out of town too much." I think he was healthy but neglected, as determined by his unwillingness to bark at all and his hesitance to get excited about anything. I spend the first 6 months encouraging him to get excited, and teaching him to sit, lay down, and bark. We would walk each day to a local elementary school where there was a field with tall grass. It was just over his head, but he loved the feeling of running as fast as he could around me in circles through the grass. This is the memory in which he is most alive, and most free.
In the next 2 years he became mine, and then also Nick's. We taught him to spin in a circle and sti back down, as well as roll over. We played too rough sometimes and his little back was somewhat injured. He quickly recovered, even through a couple of small attacks at the dog park that made his ears bleed. He slept on the couch in the living room, and loved to sleep on our legs in the easy chair. He loved bath time, but only the part about being toweled off and stealing the towel for his own. He loved sticks and would chew them into splinters - I even let him bring some in from walks and then I'd vacuum up the remains. He licked the carpet to no end. When we moved into Rustic Springs, we'd walk in the park every day, and he'd bound down the trails hoping to catch a bunny or squirrel unawares. His fur was so soft.
When we decided to join the Peace Corps, my parents agreed to take care of him for a couple of years. They loved him like their own dog, and he even got used to staying in the front yard with no leash, enticed back by the rustle of a bag of treats in my dad's pocket. He found a great companion in their dog Hamish, and he was so tired from playing the first week he was there that he just fell over onto his dog bed.
I still want him back, and his picture is still framed and sitting by our TV. I think I'll always want him back.
First, about the dog: I had gotten a few e-mails in the week preceding our return home about our dog Rugen, whom my parents were caring for during these two years. Apparently he had eaten something strange on a walk, which is nothing out of the ordinary. Then he got a little sick and stopped eating completely. So, he went to the vet, where it was found that his kidneys were shutting down. Okay, a little serious, but his system could be flushed and they might crank back up. He was walking around, not too down while at the vet. Three days later, however, he started to suffer and there was no improvement, so my parents had to make the decision to put him down. This was devastating to find out in the few hours we had to sit in freezing Xi'an between a 35-hour train ride and a 4-hour ride home to Tianshui. We were in the crappiest internet bar I've ever seen: about 11 computers in a storefront with curling gaming posters on the wall, cigarette ash all over the floor, and some plastic curtains for a door, which you see in supermarkets behind the meat counter. I couldn't believe I was in China, freezing, and we wouldn't have my sweet dog to greet us when we went back to the US.
So, here are a few quick stories about Rugen in commemoration:
I got Rugen for $80 at Petsmart on a Saturday with my friend Summer. He was pretty compliant, just walking around the store and sniffing stuff. I put him in the cart while we picked up food bowls, a leash and harness, and various hygiene items. When we got home, I wasn't sure what to do because it was my first dog, but I figured it out soon enough. He was a rescue dog with a single previous owner who gave him back because she "went out of town too much." I think he was healthy but neglected, as determined by his unwillingness to bark at all and his hesitance to get excited about anything. I spend the first 6 months encouraging him to get excited, and teaching him to sit, lay down, and bark. We would walk each day to a local elementary school where there was a field with tall grass. It was just over his head, but he loved the feeling of running as fast as he could around me in circles through the grass. This is the memory in which he is most alive, and most free.
In the next 2 years he became mine, and then also Nick's. We taught him to spin in a circle and sti back down, as well as roll over. We played too rough sometimes and his little back was somewhat injured. He quickly recovered, even through a couple of small attacks at the dog park that made his ears bleed. He slept on the couch in the living room, and loved to sleep on our legs in the easy chair. He loved bath time, but only the part about being toweled off and stealing the towel for his own. He loved sticks and would chew them into splinters - I even let him bring some in from walks and then I'd vacuum up the remains. He licked the carpet to no end. When we moved into Rustic Springs, we'd walk in the park every day, and he'd bound down the trails hoping to catch a bunny or squirrel unawares. His fur was so soft.When we decided to join the Peace Corps, my parents agreed to take care of him for a couple of years. They loved him like their own dog, and he even got used to staying in the front yard with no leash, enticed back by the rustle of a bag of treats in my dad's pocket. He found a great companion in their dog Hamish, and he was so tired from playing the first week he was there that he just fell over onto his dog bed.
I still want him back, and his picture is still framed and sitting by our TV. I think I'll always want him back.
Now, Raymond Dunn. We were concerned when Nick's grandfather went into the hospital before Christmas, and then we got more concerned when he subsequently suffered a heart attack. His health was in a delicate state when he began dialysis. After suffering another heart attack, he decided that the medication to attempt to stabilize all of the problem areas would be too much.
We laughed and teared up, walking around China, Nick telling me stories of his grandfather and using his sayings to describe the things we were seeing around us. We have no picture of him right now, but I have put his obituary below, which will give you a wonderful picture in itself.
Raymond P. Dunn
1928 - 2008
Raymond P. Dunn , Chief Master Sergeant, USAF, Retired, slipped quietly to heaven surrounded by his loving family on Jan. 25th, 2008. He was born on July 15th, 1928, on the family farm in Evington, VA.
Ray rushed to the service of his country at the tender age of 16. When his mother wrote to the War Department asking that her son be sent home, he was honorably discharged from the Army on his 17th birthday. He was commended by the governor of Virginia for meritorious voluntary service during WWII in the Virginia State Guard ending Jun 30, 1946. After a short time working with his brothers, he enlisted in the Air Force and retired at Eglin AFB in 1976 after 30 years of service, 22 of which were spent as a Flight Engineer flying dignitaries, celebrities, and missions out of Bolling AFB, Washington, D.C. and Medivac missions in the U.S. and Europe. Ray’s love of aircraft and the Air Force life led him to a new Civil Service career at Eglin from which he retired in 1990.
Ray was a 32◦ Mason, past president of the FWB Shrine Club, chairman of the Shrine Crippled Children’s Program, and a member of Okaloosa Lodge 312, Scottish Rite Temple, York Rite Bodies and Knights of Columbus. In addition to his career, he and his wife, Lovy, were active supporters of the Shrine Crippled Children’s Program. His special interests were travel and restoring old vehicles and engines.
Ray was preceded in death by his loving wife of 42 years, Lovy Cyrus Dunn, and two grandchildren, Charles Richard Short and Lisa Marie Garmon and all six of his siblings. Ray and Lovy raised a loving close-knit family of five children: Rae Marie (Fred) Garmon, David (Linda) Dunn, Katherine Dunn, Theresa (Joey) Short, Beth (Lee) Campbell, who blessed them with six grandchildren and one great grandson. He leaves behind his special friend, Mary Ellen Riordan, who shared the last years of his life.
Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan 29th with Masonic Rites at 7:30 at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home, Niceville. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan 30th, at First Baptist Church of Niceville, Bayshore Dr, with the Rev. Chuck Hartness officiating. Interment will follow at Sunset Cemetery, Valparaiso, FL.
The Dunn family wishes to thank the staff of Humana Hospital, FWB, especially Dr Weiner and the nurses in the PCU, for making his last days peaceful for their father and the entire family.If preferred, the family requests donations be made to Shriner’s Crippled Children’s Fund, P O Box 1, Ft Walton Beach, FL, 32549, in lieu of flowers. The family will receive guests at 310 Okaloosa Ave, Valparaiso.
Heritage Gardens Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.
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