Derrick worked with him and he trained really easily. We taught him to stay in the kitchen and TV room and he never crossed the threshold that was the living room. He ran after the dummy and retrieved it every time with excitement. He was a good dog, kind of a first "baby" for the group and he got lots of attention and love.
Eventually the guys moved out and I moved in. With me joining house the rules relaxed a bit. He joined us in the living room and finally moved up to the couches. He laid on us and watched tv. He lounged while we were at work. He had the good life.
From what I hear he was an excellent hunter. Pheasant hunting was his favorite. D said he moved in front of him perfectly and would get the birds up and then retrieve like an old pro. He always came home so exhausted after those long South Dakota weekends and for a good 2 days he would do nothing but lay down too tired to even get up and go outside to pee.
He was a good listener but we had plenty of adventures with him. One time after duck hunting we let him outside only to come back out for him and find an empty yard. We had a shock fence but occasionally he would run full speed through it. Finally, after driving around calling his name we found him at the park a few long blocks away down by the pond watching the geese and ducks intently. Every time we took him to the vet was an adventure. He actually squeezed through the partially open back window and ran while we were at a stoplight on Foley Blvd just minutes from the vets office.
He was a horrible walker. Because of the pheasant training Deuce was used to walking way ahead of the guys and a collar just never worked out well. He would pull and pant until he was choking himself out and by the time we made it home we were all exhausted. He hated the rain. He always hid himself away in one of the bedrooms or even the bathtub and was a hot shaking mess of fur when we would pull him out. As he got older he was even scared of the dark clouds. He could definitely sense a storm brewing and took cover earlier and earlier every time.
One time I while D was away after hunting he got so sick he couldn't even walk. I had to drag him outside and eventually ask our neighbor for help loading him into the car. He hadn't eaten anything and he looked horribly sick. The vet took blood and diagnosed him with Lyme's disease. I boiled hamburger for him and we had to shove huge, expensive, pills down his throat to help with the muscle pain and fatigue. He was better after a few weeks but to say I was tired of boiling hamburger was an understatement.
When Riley came around Deuce watched over him as an infant. They would take long naps together and many times Deuce would be in Riley's room sleeping by the crib. It always irritated us because the jingling of his collar would wake the sleeping Riley and new parents did not want to have the sleeping baby awoken. When Riley started sitting up Deuce was always by his side and they exchanged many kisses and hugs. Riley followed Deuce around and Deuce never batted an eye as Riley tugged on him, pulled his hair or jumped on his back while he was sleeping. He was such a good boy to our boy.
The burden of a dog with children hit me hard. I can honestly say I didn't like Deuce much after Riley came and the constant licking from Deuce to Riley just drove me mad. It should be noted that if Riley wasn't our first I wouldn't have cared. Isn't it amazing how much the 2nd child calms you down!? Riley was always covered in black hair and it bothered me immensely. Finally Alyssa came into the picture and she didn't bond as strongly with Deuce but he was a fierce guardian to her. He would sneak in her room at night and sleep by her crib when it was storming out. We had learned to take off his collar and appreciated the gesture at that point but the dog hair still was an annoyance. I was tired from taking care of two kids and the last thing I wanted to do at night was to pet him. He was getting too old and tired to hunt anymore and walks were a thing of the past as a double stroller was more than enough to handle for me.
Finally in December 2011 right before we left for Vegas Deuce started throwing up. He threw up everything he ate. It had been going on for a few weeks so D took him to the vet. They couldn't really see anything on x-ray except fluid and instead of sending the fluid out for testing we took him home with big, huge, expensive pills that stopped the vomiting for a few days but eventually we just started recognizing the signs of his impending pukes and would hurry him outside. When spring sprouted we thought that it had gotten better, maybe even he was on the road to recovery. We went outside to check for puke piles after the snow melted and they were literally everywhere. You couldn't walk more than a few steps without running into another one. By May he was down to skin and bones. He had been back to the vet but we knew there was nothing else short of thousands of dollars of treatment they could do for him. He stopped eating altogether and was puking up pure bile. We finally came to the decision that it was time to put him down. It was not an easy decision and the whole week leading up to July 7th we could hardly sleep. We had been slowly but surely preparing Riley for Deuce dying and finally Riley had stopped praying for Deuce to get better and started praying for Deuce to be comfortable.
My parents took Riley to a trout farm for his birthday that Friday and we drove Deuce to the Humane Society in Golden Valley. I think if I would have told D to turn the truck around he would have but we didn't. We walked in, paid and waited. She came back in and took our dog. He walked out of that room and took all the air with him. I think if Alyssa wouldn't have been with us I would have gotten sick. After what felt like hours she came back to get us so we could say our final goodbye. D went first cause we didn't want Alyssa to see Deuce like that. I went second. I just lost it in that room. I couldn't feel my legs, I couldn't stop my tears and my heart just literally broke in half. We will never erase that moment of Deuce from our memories. He looked like he was sleeping, he was still warm but his tongue was hanging out. It was surreal and it was the most horrible thing we have ever had to decide to do and I am quite positive we will never make that decision again.
We cried the whole way home, picked up Riley and sadly told him that Deuce had died while he was gone. He was such a rock that night. He hugged us and told us that we would see Deuce in heaven again. I went to bed at 5:30 and just cried and cried and cried. We have never felt so guilty in our lives. It is too weird being in our house without Deuce.
After a week or so I stopped crying every time I walked in the house expecting to see Deuce wagging his tail at me begging for attention. Riley woke up only once crying in the middle of the night saying how much he missed his Deuce. Exactly a week after saying goodbye to Deuce we walked in the house and Riley called out "Deuce, Deuce, oh wait, my Deuce is dead." We both cried together and went to the computer to look at the pictures of our Deuce.
It's taken me a long time to write Deuce's story. He would have been 11 this week. He has taught me that I should have been more attentive and appreciative of him in the last 3 years. He has taught me that having to vacuum everyday is a small price to pay for a dog as good as he was. It should also be noted that we still have to vacuum everyday, now we have no dog to clean up after the kids dropped food and snacks.
We are dog people. The boys want another dog bad. I just want Deuce. It still strikes me that for all my impatience with him in the last 3 years how much I miss him to my core every time I walk in our house. It's still so weird. We are still so sad and we will never forget him. Deuce, we are so sorry and if we could do it all over again we would.
There is so many pictures of Deuce with Riley that it is hard to narrow down our favorites. I am so glad I have always been so obsessed with clicking picture after picture.
