Abe

We adopted “Duke” from CILRA November 7, 2015. He was our first CILRA rescue and it was love at first sight. Abe, as we renamed him, was roughly 1 year old and was found in the country in Missouri we think it was. As an American Field Lab he was very tall, lean, energetic, and as we would soon find out, full of mischief, hilarity, and just the perfect family dog.

When we met Abe he promptly sat on our feet so we could not move and were forced to pet him. He would do this with everyone he met and at 95 pounds it wasn’t easy to get away. Abe made for a great running buddy, getting up to about 10 miles with mom. One story along the Chicago lake front path had Abe jumping into a water trough while other runners looked on and laughed while he cooled himself off. Coming from where he did, Abe loved Wrigley Field and all the food that was constantly left on the ground as well as all the dead things he’d find under bushes, in the alleys, and in the lake.

Abe was there for the birth of both of our children. He was our son’s first best friend and our daughter loved to color on him when we weren’t looking. Even though Abe was a bull in a china shop with a neck like a giraffe, he was the most gentle dog with our kids. He almost never destroyed their toys, was always willing to get poked and prodded, loved the dropped food or helping himself to leftovers, and would follow them all around, often snuggling in their bed for story time. For such a large dog, Abe could curl up in the smallest ball, he loved to snuggle, and was a big bed hog that snored a ton. One of Abe’s most endearing traits was his trust falls (aka timbers) where he’d sit up and just fall back on top of someone without a care in the world even if that meant occasionally falling off the couch. We’ve never seen a dog do that, and it will be greatly missed.

This March we had to say goodbye to Abe, Abraham, Abe-ham, or Ham. For a big guy who was around 12 years old, he was in amazing shape up until the last few months when the weight started to decline, appetite started to slow, and ultimately his body failed him even though his mind and spirit were as strong as ever. It was a very difficult time for our family and in many ways still is. We miss Abe every day and his brother Truman (another CILRA rescue) misses his big brother who he’d follow around learning how to be a good boy. Say hi to Gracie (our second CILRA rescue) over the Rainbow Bridge and be among the wildflowers. We will never forget you and love you forever.

Kevin M. and Family