Rusty came into my life in the summer of '89. We were still on Okinawa.  He usually followed our current dog, Sally, around whenever we went for walks, but he'd never let any of us get closer than 10 feet.  One day after a month or so of that, he finally decided to meet with Sally in our back yard. Unfortunately (fortunately??) he couldn't figure out how to get back out.  So we decided to see if we could win this rust-colored  tramp over.

It was a long, and hard task, as we soon learned.  At first, he wouldn't  come into the house, much less let any of us touch him.  So, my mother and I sat out on the back yard porch with some fried chicken, or other canine delicacy. We tossed pieces to him, gradually bringing him closer and closer. Finally, after several days of this, he  started to take it out of our hands. Then, he started to let us pet him, if we were sitting down. At that point, he started coming inside.. at least at night. After we carried on like this for about a month, he started playing with me, and playing tuggie, and wrestling with Sally (after she established that SHE was the boss). He still wouldn't let my Father (or any other male) get near him, but  he and I were inseparable.  My dad got tired of him running from him all the time, and only letting him pet him when he was sitting on the floor.  So one day when Rusty tried to run from him, he reached out and grabbed him by the scruff, and picked him up (Rusty was no more than skin an bones).  Rusty FREAKED OUT!! He struggled and cried, for a good 5 minutes. By the time he stopped struggling my dad was sitting down and just talking to him. No matter how horrible it looked, it had the desired effect, he didn't run from my dad anymore, in fact, rusty would even let my dad pet while he was standing.

We took him to the vet, and he was diagnosed with Heartworms, and severe Malnutrition. So they put a shunt in his foreleg, and we had to take him to the vet daily so they could give him a dose of arsenic (small enough to kill the worms, and supposedly not affect him).  Several months later, there was no trace of the heartworms, and he had gained some weight, and was a little less shy.  We had decided that his life, before he came to us, was full of abuse, and general cruelness.  We got rid of most of the traces of such harshness, and he turned out to be my best friend. Though there was always one thing we could never break him of, and that was Running.  He took any chance he could to run, sometimes, he'd be gone for over 6 hours, before he'd come loping back, like nothing happened.  We could never catch him, he'd run, and was an expert at hiding.

We brought him and Sally back to the states with us in the fall of '91. As always, he and I were inseparable.  We'd walk everyday, and he was the first to comfort me if anything happened. He was always there to listen to me, with a curious cock to his head and a thoughtful expression.

My parents had a cockatiel named Chris, who decided to bond with Rusty.  When he was out of his cage (which was most of the time) he'd follow Rust around, and sing to him, it got to the point where he was able to take food out of Rust's mouth!  He'd sit on the edge of Rust's food dish, and sing to him while he ate.  It was absolutely priceless!!

One last farewell, Dear Mistress. Whenever you think of me, say to yourself with regret but also with happiness in your heart at the remembrance of my happy life with you: "He is the one who loved me and whom I loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.