In Memoriam - Rufus Hingley
We had decided in January 2001 that we were ready to have our first dog as adults and after many telephone calls to breeders and talking to friends, we stumbled across The Labrador Rescue Trust. We were given the phone number of our local volunteer and the process began. We were advised to go for an older Lab, maybe four years or older as our twins were only 2 years old at that time.
On April 18th 2001, our lives changed forever. Rufus arrived. He was a big, fat, smelly black Labrador and he was lovely from day one. He had been living on a farm in Somerset and was very overweight at nearly 4 years old. As we had not seen Rufus before he arrived to live with us, it was a bit of a shock when this big guy jumped out of the car. I can honestly say that it was love at first sight. I just knew that it was going to be OK. When my husband arrived home that night and knocked on the door, he was greeted with this great, deep bark and wondered what would be on the other side of the door. He was not disappointed! It took a year to reduce Rufus' weight from 40kgs down to 27kgs, but it was quite painless for him. We were given the tip of giving him a carrot every day. This helped to fill him up and keep his teeth clean.
It took about a week for Rufus to trust us enough to spend any time in the same room as us and about year before he really started to believe that he was to stay with us. Rufus had his hang ups and at times we just wished that he could talk and tell us what was on his mind. He hated Christmas with a passion and always freaked out when the Christmas decorations were first put up. He also hated travel bags and suitcases. We would always try to reassure him when we packed to go away, but he was never happy until he was in the car with the bags and realised that we were never going to leave him anywhere. This never changed throughout his life and he would always try to stay in the car when we reached our destination.
I would often take Rufus to the park on my own to have a little space from family life. We would sit in 'our place' and I would tell Rufus all my troubles. He never told a soul. He helped me through the bad times and wagged that tail through the good times. He truly was a best friend.
Rufus was an opportunist when it came to food. He never missed a trick. One day in the park, some workmen were doing maintenance work. They had left their Land Rover rear door open. Rufus was like lightening. He jumped in the back, went straight to the front and ate two pasties and the muesli bars left on the front shelf! The workmen were not amused. Luckily, the bakery still had some left when Ed ran down there to buy replacements.
Rufus suffered from dementia for the last 18 months of his life, but we still believe that he was happy in his own little world. The only place he was truly happy towards the end was the local park. So we spent as much time there as his old legs could cope with.
Rufus suffered a stroke on 16th February this year and we knew that it was time to say goodbye. Our lives will never be the same without the best dog in the world. Every day is so painful without him, but it is worth all that pain to have known such a wonderful dog. Rufus was known locally as 'The Gentleman'. We miss him so much. Thank you Labrador Rescue for giving us the chance to spend eight fantastic years with Rufus.
Cate, Ed, Joe and Emma Hingley - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. (2009)
Rufus was a true Gentleman and Belinda knew him well from his visits to the surgery where she works. Rufus was always a fantastic ambassador for Labrador Rescue and could be seen wearing his 'Labrador Rescue' bandana with pride. His highlight of going to the vets, which he did often in the latter stages of his life, was to get a biscuit from his Aunty Belinda. Rufus was a very special and much loved dog who is sorely missed by everyone that knew him.