Rest in Peace, Gus

 Augustus "Gus" McCrae Rucker

March 2009 - February 2010

Gus Pictures

It's a sad day in Malaysia. We just learned that our sweet puppy, Gus, passed away back home in Texas at the tender age of just 11 months. Will and I of course are devastated by this news, and making matters even worse is the fact that Will is in Indonesia for business all week and I'm in Kuala Lumpur, meaning that we're both having to grieve over Gus separately right now, missing him terribly and missing each other desperately. We were supposed to be bringing both Boo and Gus over here next month for their Malaysia debut but sadly Gus won't be making the trip. For those of you that knew Gus, you know that goofy puppy crammed a whole lotta livin' into those short little 11 months he managed to squeeze out of his happy-go-lucky life. A furball of energy, Gus had a zest for life unlike any dog we've ever known. Gus had 3 major loves in his life: His love for the water was evident from the get-go with his many a nose-dive into the bathtub whenever the water was running (and sometimes even when it wasn't). His love for fetching was something that kept me and Will entertained for hours on end back home in Houston. We'd sit on the couch in the evenings and place bets on what Gus would sniff out, dig up, and bring back to us....socks, shoes, and blankets were among his favorites, but trust me when I tell you that dog would fetch anything.....ANYTHING. Rarely could we take a step out into the backyard without him running full steam ahead into our leg with a toy, stick, rock, or other random piece of debris wanting us to play fetch with him. And he would fetch....and fetch.....and fetch.....and fetch until our arm fell off or until we distracted him with food. His love for his family was the other main love of Gus's short life. And I would love to be able to sit here and say that by "family" I mean that Gus's love was limited to just me and Will.....however, that just would not be the case. You see, Gus is what one would call a people dog. He loved anyone and everyone he ever met, saw, sniffed, and licked. The dog never met a stranger. The second he laid those big, sweet, green ol' puppy dog eyes on you, he was hooked....and most of the time that person was hooked right back. It was impossible not to love Gus, all 80 pounds of him. It's sad to know he'll never grow into those big goofy legs of his or fill out that big furry coat, but I guess the silver lining here, if there has to be one, is that he will live in our hearts as a puppy forever. A big, goofy, friendly, happy go lucky puppy. He came running into our lives as quickly as he went running out of it, and we will always be grateful to him  for all the love and laughter he brought to our family and the lessons he taught us about how to live for the moment, how to eat like there's no tomorrow, how to cause a splash wherever you go, and how to fetch like nobody's watching (and hope that sometimes they really aren't watching because you just might get in trouble for what you fetch). We love you, Gus. We miss you more than you'll ever know.