RIKU

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. -- Anonymous

Riku passed away the night of August 27, 2003 at the young age of 3 months old. He was a product of the Merle-to-Merle breeding of Australian Shepherds and therefore, had many obstacles to overcome in his young life. Riku was completely deaf and blind. His 2 little blue eyes were barely visible, they were so tiny. He had no idea that he was impaired and was one very happy little boy. No challenge was too great for him, he simply put his nose in the air and walked in his silent, dark world with a smile on his face. Riku was dearly loved and is sorely missed by his family (Charles and Dawn and their 2 boys, Julius and Niklaas). Aiko (Lethal White) and Annabelle, his canine family, miss him too.

Riku had vomited once, earlier in the morning and was fine the remainder of the day. He vomited again around 6 p.m., followed by more vomit and diarrhea. He was taken to the emergency animal hospital where they discovered that he had aspirated (inhaled his own vomit). Tests were run and no reason for the vomiting was discovered. The test results did show that his liver was enlarged and there is also the possibility of a damaged esophagus (which may explain why he inhaled his vomit), but without an autopsy, we'll never be sure.

We would like to share an email from Riku's Mom. A more loving, caring family we could not have found. Riku's short life was filled with more love than most ever find in a normal lifetime.

I had meant to respond to this email later this week, but didn't get to it before our terrible night. Thanks for everything. Thanks for your calls today, and checking into his death. I feel better about the other puppies now. This world can be so sad. Charles said he isn't ready to bring another puppy/dog into the house. He is really upset over Riku. He feels it is his fault because he had increased his food because he had a growth spurt. He thought maybe he had overfed him which made him vomit. I don't think so. Dogs vomit for various reasons and for no reason. Charles was so good to Riku. At night, we couldn't have Riku sleep near Aiko and Annabelle while they were all adjusting. It kept Aiko and Annabelle up. So while they were separated, Charles would sleep with Riku to keep him company, when he would get restless or lonely at night. He did this every night. I will see how it goes with Julius and Aiko, too. If Aiko hits the pits of depression after losing his new play buddy, then we will need to do something. I will definitely be in touch. We just need some time, and I am not sure how much time. But we will definitely be contacting you when we are ready. Put (Charles' email address) in your distribution list. If he gets some of those stories sent to him, he will be the one calling you. He had no dogs when I met him and when we got together I had four dogs. I told him love me, love my free-spirited dogs. And I told him if he had a problem with that, then I was out of there. 8 years later, he is as much of a dog lover as me. In fact, he has taken over all of the responsibility of taking care of them. Can you believe that? How did I ever luck out with that?

Here is another sad story. Niklaas', our 20 month old, has decided he is the dog feeding manager. He has begun to do this task all on his own. When he hears his dad getting Annabelle's food ready (Charles cooks special food for Annabelle), then Niklaas gets the three dog bowls lined up in the kitchen. He then squats down with all three dogs and monitors them eating. (Our dogs are so gentle, they have no problems around food. With other dogs, I know to keep Niklaas away during feeding time.) When they are done, he carries each of their bowls back to where we store them when not in use. This morning, he carried the two bowls to the kitchen and saw Riku's bowl up on the counter. He tried to reach it and kept pointing at it. It was just so sad.

Anyway, enough about us. Thanks again for everything. Lorraine, sorry I called so late. I just thought I should talk to you before we made any decisions. Then when we arrived there last night around 11:00 p.m. or so, the decision was not ours to make. He had gone into cardiac arrest while we were discussing the situation with the vet. Thanks. I will be glad when this lump in my throat eventually disappears. Just give us a call when you want to visit Aiko.

Here is Riku's story of his short, love-filled life. A special "thank you" to all involved who brought him to us from Northern California. I'm sure he touched all of your lives in his own special "happy" way. Riku, may you now see clearly and hear your new world as you were meant to. We love you...and we'll never forget how very special you were to so many!

Mr. Black a.k.a. sweetie pie (white with a red merle patch on his right rear leg) This is the largest puppy in the litter. Over 7 lbs. He appears to be both completely deaf and blind. But...he still forges ahead full speed. He'll probably need a helmet before long since he bangs his poor head - a lot! He loves to be held, and will sit in my lap for hours on end. He's also very content by himself and loves to chew on his toys. He is not very active, and seems content to lay down and let the world go by (except when it's meal time!).

Mr. Black aka Riku has been adopted! A wonderful family who has previously adopted from us (Aiko) has added Riku to their loving family. Things went quite well and the children just loved him, as did Aiko and Annabelle. Please note that while we normally do NOT adopt our Lethals, especially pups, to homes with young children, both Julius and Niklaas have experience from living with Aiko (blind/partially deaf) and are extremely attuned to the precautions involved. Riku will be neutered and get third booster within the next several weeks. He received his 2nd booster on 7/27/03 (thanks to Alice Corrado, Aussie Rescue in AZ). Riku is scheduled for neuter surgery on 8/24/03 (he did not make that appointment and was going to be rescheduled) and at that time will have received his last booster shot. Please enjoy some pictures taken at the adoption.