Dog Heaven, USA.

Parker, now known as Rudi, or on occasion, Mr. Rudi Parker, is doing very well at his new home. After his release, Carol brought him here to Dog Heaven to join two other red Dobies, Lena, 9 and Oskar, 4 (the latter also a Fama rescue) and the rest of the family. Things got off to a little bit of a rough start. It seems that Oskar, still a bit wary of strangers bearing odd packages, thought that a dog-looking thing wrapped in a green sweater and wearing a blue Dobie kerchief was very strange indeed and said so in no uncertain terms. But once the clothes were gone, Oskar decided that he did recognize one of his own and that YES, he would really love to have a brother.

During his recovery at Carol's house Rudi had exhibited some separation-anxiety and so he was taking medication. But since finishing that regime, he has not had any more medicine and has not shown any signs of the syndrome. Yet he is a Doberman after all and loves to be always with his people and near his people and on top of and against his people, but his people understand this and even like it.

Rudi has become a delightful addition to the Dober Trio here (Dog Heaven, so named by Carol Fama, when she brought Oskar to live here in July, 1999, is a 40 acre fenced-in tree farm with a 3 and ½ acre pond and lots of running room and a family who loves their dogs very, very much). Rudi is very smart, learns very quickly, and leaps about running in the woods and fields and cavorting with Oskar. He loves little Lena but realizes he cannot cavort with her since she has arthritis and a bad case of the Wobblies. So instead he kisses her a lot and always runs over to see if she is all right when she falls down. When he and Oskar run about, Rudi always wins the race. He can run twice as fast as Oskar; it seems he runs like the wind.

Things are fine in the house too except there are tile floors which can make it hard for a tripod Dobe. But now there are lots of carpet remnants and there is nowhere Rudi cannot go. Truth is, the tile floor thing is really mostly in Rudi's head because when he really wants to go somewhere he just goes. But when he stops to think about it he wants carpet to walk on. There really is hardly anything a tripod-Dobe can't do. Still Rudi has learned to make some necessary adjustments. He has realized that if he is standing with his nose pointing down a big hill sniffing, sniffing, sometimes his rear end comes up too high and he topples over. He has also learned that if he leans too far forward on the couch and lets his head hang off pretty soon all of him comes off and he slides onto the floor. So he finds more anchoring positions. One of his favorites is on his back with all three legs in the air.

Rudi loves people and enjoyed meeting family and guests who came for Christmas. Everyone who meets him is amazed at how very well he gets about and how beautiful and soft he is and how friendly and loving and smart! He is always with his people-taking walks in the woods or hanging about while they work outside, sitting on the couch watching TV or taking a nap in bed. He used to sleep beside the bed but now he has decided to keep Oskar and Lena company and sleep with them on the couches in the TV room. He joins Lena and Oskar when they go back to the bedroom at 6:30 a.m. to get in bed with the people and snuggle for a half hour or so.

Rudi wants to thank everyone who even had the slightest thought of giving him a home. But he says he is just fine and very, very happy where he is, but please not to forget all the other suffering Dobies out there and consider giving one of them a home. He is also very grateful for the people who donated money or SND auction items toward his care and recovery.