I always wanted a dog named Rufus, we adopted a six-month old that was called Loki.  Because he was so young, we were able to change his name to Rufus.  He was a beautifully handsome red and black Airedale and his head would wrinkle whenever he was thinking. Rufus immediately fell in love with me and acted like he had been my dog forever.  Rufus adapted quickly, but did have his quirks.  He liked to get my husband up a 2:00 in the morning to go play ball in the back yard, the more balls the better!  He also liked to snuggle on the bed before we got up in the morning.  To Rufus, life was a big dog game and he liked to play all the time.  It is funny how things work out, we looked up Rufus to see what it meant, Latin for Rumpled Red Head, how appropriate.  This picture is of Rufus playing in the middle of the night with Lightning Bugs, he just liked to play. Rufus always had a struggle between being a pet, and the feral dog that had little human interaction.  Unfortunately, the demons from his past won the battle and Rufus had to cross the rainbow bridge.  We have chosen to keep in our hearts the Rufus that would play ball with his Dad during the middle of the night or snuggle with us on the bed – the good Rufus!

 Susan Ingold