The Wheeing Little E-Man

Elton's Escapades

Dedicated to the loving memory of Elton,
my pup, my best friend.

Rainbow-E
Angel E-Man
painting created by
Rev.Diane

02/01/95 - 05/09/97
My Elton, my little boy, my sweet chocolate pup,
I miss you so much, more than you will ever know,
Until we are together again, my heart will never be whole,
You are in my heart and soul forever.

I lost my precious Elton at 27 months of age,
due to Sudden Rage Syndrome,
a rare neurological / seizure disorder.
Below are some of the fond memories
I have of our 2 short years together....

walk? Walks
Elton loved to go on walks! He couldn't stop wiggling long enough to sit for me to get his leash attached:) He knew when I put on my walking shoes and grabbed my watch that he was going for a walk. This was one of the times when he would do his "happy walk"! It was a cute little shuffle/rump swaying gait, but he kept up a good pace doing it. No poking around, walks were serious fun. Before we'd embark on our journey, I'd take Elton out in the back yard to go potty. He'd always want to get our show on the road though! Inevitably he'd make a pitstop during our outings, so "poop bags" were a necessity:) Once a month or so, Elton & I would get to go to his fun group meetings. He'd have a ball, okay me too.... The meetings were 2-5 mile easy hikes, and at different places than we'd normally go. Elton would usually "buddy up" alongside one of his dog pals in the group.

E at park Parks
Just one perk of going "bye-bye". Elton loved checking out the smells on every tree. He didn't quite know why though as he never learned to lift his leg. Sometimes he'd look at me like "how do they do that?" When Elton arrived he usually cleared a park of any seedy characters! His car looks like a NARC car, then bounding out came a Springer on a 6 foot leather leash with his nose to the ground and tail in the air! One day there were some senior citizens playing softball when we arrived at the park. Elton couldn't quite figure out what those silly humans were doing to that defenseless ball! Balls are for pups to play with after all, right? He also barked at a lady wearing a hat who was watching the softball game. I don't blame him, it was a funny looking hat:)

E at obedience Obedience
I don't know which Elton loved most, obedience class or walks. Perhaps obedience, because he got to go "bye-bye"! He'd get so excited he'd poop in the parking lot when we got there. I always had to make sure I had poop-scooping bags before we left home! Walking through the parking lot to and from obedience class was another time he'd do his "happy walk"! Elton loved his obedience instructor and her husband. He gave Elton his 1st tennis ball when Elton became their first lifetime member. Elton seemed to enjoy advanced classes better than the basic ones. I was teaching him hand signals, and for newbies I think we were doing good!.

E & his car Going Bye-Bye
Elton loved to go "bye-bye"! It didn't matter much to him where he went though.... He enjoyed going bye-bye to his obedience classes, fun group meets, parks, as well as just to run errands with us if the weather was nice. It was a tragic sight when Elton would realize he wasn't going with us somewhere.... He would look very pitiful, he'd hang his head down and look up at us with such sad golden eyes, and his little tail would be glued to his rump. One of us always stayed with him in the car while the others went into the stores when he did run errands with us. Unfortunately, you never know what someone might do to an unattended furbaby.

stink left stink right Stinkbug!
This was Elton's unusual way of greeting us when he was very, very, very excited to see us! His normal way of greeting us was to calmly wiggle up to us, then fold himself in half while still wiggling. We called him Crab Boy when he'd do that:) The stinkbug, however, was chaotic and accompanied with lots of yips and grunts. Elton never did the normal "playbow" position, he always bent his front legs at the wrist and put one side of his face on the floor. It was difficult trying to get a photo of the stinkbug in action, I'm glad we did though:)

E on bed Bedtime
When he was a pup, it was decided that Elton's bedtime was 10pm. As he grew-up, occasionally I would stay up later (ie for the Westminster dog show). Elton didn't like that, he'd go lay on the foot of my bed and wait for me to come to bed! One reason he liked bedtime was because he got a bedtime "chew-chew" when he "sat" and "downed" on command at the foot of my bed.... Which eventually he'd perform repeatedly without command until us slowpoke humans would hand it to him. His "chew-chews" were chopped rawhide sticks.

yummy Good Morning
Part of Elton's and my morning routine was having him "sit" or "down" on command *yes, again* for his morning "treat". Actually they were Pet Tab vitamins, but he thought they were very tasty so they were like a healthy cookie for him:) He'd munch on one while I got dressed.

E by feeders Helping
Elton was a good little helper. A couple things he enjoyed helping us in the yard with were taking care of the potted flower garden and filling the wild bird feeders we hung in the bamboo. He also enjoyed sitting with us in the backyard watching the birds, especially if they were bathing in the sprinkler. If a dragonfly flew through the yard though, he couldn't stand it, he had to chase those weird things! We made sure he left the wasps alone, we could tell he would've loved to have gone after them too.