Emptiness seems to fill our days, I catch myself looking for you
and only realize that you are now gone. The terrible days when we
realized just how sick you were and the failed treatments seem to
linger on. Though we brought you home and surrounded you with our
hugs, love and and kind words, we knew that your remaining time
with us would be short. Thank you for being part of our family for
the last twelve years. From those cute first puppy days to your
final struggles, you gave us love, companionship and comfort no
matter what, with no conditions attached. I know myself to be a
better person for being your friend. I miss you my friend and
companion and sidekick. Please be well, wherever you may be. Keep
looking at the bridge Ranger, you may see me coming along down the
road one day.
RASCAL, 05/07/09 - 04/14/21
DEAREST RASCAL, YOU SURE LIVED UP TO YOUR NAME.
NEVER A DULL MOMENT WITH YOU. SO HAPPY I RESCUED YOU AT FIVE YEARS
OLD. YOU HAD THE ENERGY OF A PUPPY AND ALWAYS WERE GETTING INTO
TROUBLE AND ESCAPING AND DOING OTHER THINGS THAT I NOW LOOK BACK
ON WERE SO ENDEARING AND MADE YOU - YOU. YOU RASCALLY RASCAL. YOU
LOVED CAR RIDES, EVEN IF IT WAS JUST TO THE POST OFFICE OR BANK
YOU WERE ALWAYS READY FOR A ROADTRIP. YOU LOVED THE BISCUITS THAT
THE BANK DRIVE THRU OFFERED YOU EVEN STEALING YOUR SISTERS TREAT
WHEN YOU JUMPED INTO THE BACK SEAT. YOU COULD FIND ANY AND EVERY
OPENING IN THE BACKYARD FENCE TO ESCAPE AND ESCAPE YOU DID MANY
MANY TIMES. YOU WERE MY LITTLE BRILLO PAD WHEN YOUR FUR GREW WILD
AND WOOLY DURING THE WINTER AND THEN AT SPRING YOU WERE REBORN
EVERY YEAR WHEN THEY SHEARED OFF YOUR WINTER COAT. IT WAS LIKE I
HAD TWO DOGS IN ONE. LOOKING OUT THE BACK WINDOW WILL BE SO HARD
NOW, NOT TO SEE YOU ROAMING AROUND THE YARD AND ALWAYS TAKING SIPS
FROM THE BIRDBATH. I'LL MISS YOU GETTING INTO THE GARBAGE LOOKING
FOR LEFTOVERS, ESPECIALLY FROM KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN OR RIPPING
OPEN BAGS OF DOG OR CAT FOOD LEFT ON THE FLOOR. YOU ALWAYS WERE
ABLE TO FIND THE TREATS IN ANY BAG AND DO SELF SERVICE JUST LIKE
WHEN YOU RIPPED OPEN THE CARDBOARD BOX WITH $50 OF TREATS FROM
CHEWY.COM IN THE BASEMENT AND ATE THRU EVERY SINGLE ONE WHEN I WAS
IN PITTSBURGH. I DON'T THINK YOU ATE FOR 3 DAYS WHEN I CAME
HOME...BUT IT WAS ALL JUST YOU BEING YOU. YOU BEING THE RASCALLY
RASCAL. I MISS YOU SO MUCH BUDDY BOY. LOVE, MOMMY
Red, May 25,
2021
Little Red was a timid small boy who loved his two humans. He is
so missed but we know Smokey, Yahtzee, Smokey, and Yoda are there
to greet him and take care of him. Bless him.
Rex Kwon Do
Koerner (Rex), June 16, 2005 - July 15, 2021
My dear Rex, aka Rex,
The minute you came in our family as a tiny kitten, you let
everyone including your buddy, Max know who the boss was. Your
beautiful white and gray fur and your innocent bright eyes stole
our hearts. Your eyes were full of wisdom. You looked like an old
soul in a kitten body. Your face expression never changed from the
first day until the day yoir passed Your soft meow
turned to be a demanding meow. I still remember how you walked
downstairs and did the wave to Max. I thought you wanted to play
with him. Little that I knew that you just showed Max who the
boss. You were fearless. Max, 45 lbs dog seemed like a tower to
you, but you had no fear. In a few days, you took over rhe whole
house! You loved sleeping on our heads . It looked like we wore
you as our sleeping hat! You continued to do that for 16 years.
You were so independent. You wanted to be take over our space and
grow our full attention, but you never liked being held. You
didn't like your nails trimmed. It took me a whole week to get all
your nails. You likes eveyone food except yours. You were the
alpha male of the clan when we adopted Georgie and Moe. You
were much smaller than Moe, but you wouldn't let Moe take over.
After the warrior fight , that I stopped , you and Moe learned to
navigate and respect wash other. It was clear that Moe just let
you take the lead even Moe could have challenged you. You always
showed your pack your strong right pay twitching it when they
walked by. Every morning, you scratched your chin every
where and licked the wall or any object of your choice. You became
Anna's busy and grew up together along with Max. In your last
days, which we didn't know they were, you still hung out with Anna
every where when she visited home from New York. You loved her!
You were so intelligent . You played football and played guessing
where snack was. You were the first kitty that answered when we
called you, "Rexy." Sometimes you just mouthed your lips without
sound to answer us. Rex, you were the boss of the house. You loved
socializing when guess visited. You would sit by the arm chair and
visited. You were always in the middle of the circle. You sat in
the head chair just time you were the head of the family when we
ate. We had to invite you to come down so we could have our space
back. You never liked kitty bed, instead you slept everywhere on
our table, chair,sofa, and our beds!You traveled with us to
Hawaii. You loved being Hawaiian boy. You loved sitting on my
dresser and watched put the window. Rex, you gave me
company. You were all by my side when I worked from home during
COVID 19. You watched me worked. You watched me cook. You lied
down next to my legs watching TV together. You got to spend time
with Anna because of the pandemic. You were happy to have
her. You were diagnosed with IBD in January 2019 and
responded so well to the treatment, just small dose of
prednisolone specially made double tunna You continued to live
your good life until February of thus year. You become a picky
eater. I had tons of different food , hugh quality to whatever you
wanted to eat. You had regular visits with the vet to check your
weight. You sustained your weight and enjoyed spending every
moments with me. Two days before you passed, you didn't eat well
after being stable in weight for 2.5 months. So I took you to the
emergency since your vet didn't have an appointment. The ER vet
thought you were in good and stable condition and just gave you
fluid and zerenia. Your vital signs were good. He didn't see any
reason to keep your hospital so we went home at 1 am. You didn't
weat as the vet thought you would so we went back for blood test
to check your kidneys. All the sudden you become weak so I stopped
at your regular vet hospital so they would help you. You just
passed minutes we got there. You made the decision to depart on
your own at 12.25. My heart was shattered. We were on our way to
have blood work and I didn't expect anything to happen like that.
I suppose it wa sour time and you went with dignity just like how
you lived your life,dignified alpha male.
Rex,you were first kitty of our family. I thought you would live
to 2o since you always got a clean bill of health,other than your
chronic respiratory issue since you were a baby. I am grateful to
have 16 years with you, but it was not enough. I have missed you
every day. I see you everywhere. You took a huge piece of my heart
with you. Anna was so sad. She got to spend July 4th weekend with
you. Rex, who is going to sleep on my book, laptop, my head,
dining table, my couch? Who is going to meow back when I call
Rexy? Please love happily and join your pack, Max, Moe and Havana
and waut for me until we'll meet again.
I love you.
Mom
July 31,2021
Rylie, April 10,
2010 - February 6, 2021
At a time when my wife was recovering from severe medical issues,
she thought a puppy would help her focus on something other than
the recovery. Thanks to the gracious and loving hearts of two very
special friends (B and L….this is you), who had a nationally
renown reputation as breeders of exceptional quality German
Shepherd (working dogs), we were blessed with a beautiful 8-week
old female GSD, whom my wife named ‘Rylie’. There was no
particular reason for that name, other than it just seemed to fit
her well.
Rylie had an exceptional pedigree (Her great-great grandfather had
won the prestigious Bundessieger Prufung competition (in Germany),
and many of the canines in her line had distinguished themselves
as exceptional working dogs. And, although my wife and I were both
experienced former law enforcement K9 handlers, neither one of us
chose to train Riley in anything other than basic obedience,
simply because we just wanted her to be a pet. In retrospect, that
was such a low bar. She surpassed the level of ‘pet’, and was
elevated to the station of ‘family member, early in life. One of
her most remarkable attributes was a love for people. She was very
capable of ferreting out those she didn’t trust, but – for the
vast majority of people she encountered – she greeted and treated
them with unconditional love. Throughout the years, I constantly
marveled at her great heart.
We chose to breed Rylie and, when she produced her first litter,
the [male] ‘pick of the litter’, was selected for a nephew (whom
I’ll call ‘Tim’), who had long-wanted a GSD. Since he lived out of
state, the topic of transporting the pup was discussed frequently.
Flying would’ve been much cheaper and quicker, but Tim chose to
drive so he could spend the return travel time bonding with the
pup which confirmed our belief the pup was headed to a loving
home. At approximately six weeks of age, Tim revealed his young
daughters had already named the pup: Thor. In fact, when he
shipped a portable kennel to us for the pup to get used to, it
already had Thor’s name written on the front.
Through the years, Tim and I traded stories and it became obvious
Thor had inherited many of Rylie’s traits and characteristics.
Even more so, our belief Thor would be loved was greatly exceeded
as evidenced by numerous photographs and stories. During that same
time, Rylie produced two more litters of beautiful, intelligent
pups, who have blessed their human companions for many
years.
Sadly, and to this day I will never forget his agony, despair and
grief, Tim called to say Thor had been diagnosed with an incurable
and aggressive cancer. Despite his overwhelming emotions, as
well as those of his family, it was decided to protect Thor from
any further pain and suffering. At just 7½ years young, Thor left
his family home and is waiting for them at the Rainbow Bridge.
Less than a year later, on February 6, 2021, around 7:30am, I
realized Rylie hadn’t woke me up at 5:30am, as she had done for
many, many years. I just assumed my wife had already taken her
outside and Rylie was just sleeping a little longer. So, I
prepared her morning meal and had it ready. Not long after, Rylie
came into the room and just stood in the doorway. Unlike every
other day in the past, when her eyes were bright, she had that GSD
‘smile’, her ears would be up and tail wagging, her head was
slightly down, her ears laid back and her tail was still.
I called her to the food bowl and watched as she responded. She
appeared confused, walked slowly to the food, sniffed it, turned
away and laid down on the floor. I went to her and noticed her
breathing was fast and shallow. She didn’t appear to be in any
pain, but it was obvious something was wrong.
Not long after, my wife walked into the room and Rylie stood to go
to her, but she was unable to keep her balance and fell back down.
We immediately took her to an emergency Vet clinic. Following an
examination, blood tests and X-rays, the vet delivered the news:
Rylie had a large mass, between her liver and spleen, which he was
virtually certain was cancer, and she was bleeding internally.
Surgery was an absolute necessity, due to the bleed, but it was
uncertain if Rylie would survive the surgery and, if the mass was
cancer, her life was limited to 3 – 8 months and there was no
guarantee about her quality of life.
We took the necessary action to keep Rylie from suffering any
longer, but telling the vet to do so was agonizing and
tortuous. When Rylie was brought into the room, she was
alert, her ears were up, she had the ‘smile’, and her tail was
wagging as if we had been separated for days. One of the first
things the vet did when we arrived was give her an IV. A large
part of her confusion and weakness was due to hypovolemia (low
blood pressure, caused by the internal bleeding) and the infusion
of fluids provided a temporary boost to her system. In fact, she
even regained her appetite and ate every cheese snack the vet had,
as well as an entire bag of treats.
Our last minutes were spent with the Rylie we had loved, and been
loved by, for almost 11 years. As extremely difficult as it was,
we made a concerted effort to stay positive and upbeat just to
minimize any stress to her. I can honestly say it was much easier
to say goodbye to her as I watched her gently fall asleep as she
laid next to us, being softly petted and reassured we would meet
again.
On the long, and lonely journey home, I remember telling my wife
how much I was going to miss her and even suggested we find a
website dedicated to leaving a memorial for her. I also said, If
we had such a site, I would call it ‘The Heart of Rylie’, because
that encapsulated everything I loved about her. Although my wife
noted it would be a great name, our conversation faded as we each
struggled with the loss in our own way. For several days
after, I was unable to sleep or even touch many of Rylie’s things,
because the hurt was still raw and unyielding.
Nevertheless, life goes on and I found myself looking forward to
doing the things that had to be done, because they would provide
temporary reprieve from the pain. About four days later, as I was
driving home, memories of Rylie flooded my mind – and heart – and
my thoughts again turned to to a memorial website. Once again, I
imaged such a site dedicated to The Heart of Rylie. The thought
had barely returned when I was struck with an overwhelming
realization: ‘The Heart Of Rylie’, a title I had imagined due
solely to Rylie’s loving nature, was something much more. As
an acronym, it is ‘THOR’.
I called my wife to tell her and she was equally awestruck. Before
calling my nephew, I called one of my daughters and explained it
all to her. After I finished speaking, the line was quiet. I
actually thought the call had dropped until I called her name and
she hesitantly answered, “Dad, do you know what the last four
digits of my phone number spell?” Several years ago, after being
assigned the number, she noted, as you have probably already
deduced, the last four digits of her number (8467) spell
‘THOR’. At that point, I had no doubt Rylie was letting us
know she was still with us and made sure to leave a message of
love. Needless to say, Tim, as well as our wonderful friends
who enriched our lives with the gift of Rylie, found joy and
promise in the events that spanned nearly 11 years.
So, to Rylie, Thor and all of our other animal companions, ‘THANK
YOU’ for the many blessings each of you bestowed upon us. You will
always be in our hearts and thoughts and we WILL see you
again.
And, to the Almighty
God who created such magnificent animals, we praise and thank you
for your unconditional love, grace and compassion.
Rocky, 12/06/15
- 03/18/21
Rocky, there are no words in this world that can ever describe how
much you meant to me and my life. You will always hold one of the
most special places in my heart. As I wrapped your beautiful soul
in every ounce of love that I have for you, I sent you to rest in
peace, with a part of me always being with you. You were my whole
world Rocky, and I will always love you with my entire heart. We
will see each other again. Run wild, my little love. We’ll always
be with each other.
Year
2021 Tributes 
