Rest In Peace, Hank

On August 22nd, just before dinner time, Hank unexpectedly passed away. It was such a shock to lose him. It’s taken the passage of many days for me to find the strength to write this post.

As the condolences rolled in, I thought about all the lives he touched. I am not a writer by any means, but I owe it to Hank to do my best.

It took me a while, because I had no experience whatsoever making videos. I just love watching them, but I never realized how much work it is to make one. Here are some of our memories of Hank and the places we used to go.

It seemed like a normal Wednesday.

We stopped by one of our favorite spots, the Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve. It was close to 100 degrees and too hot for a walk, so we relaxed in the shade, just doing a little dog watching.

Jaxon suggested going to Chick-fil-a for a few waffle fries. We all thought it was a great idea, but once there, Hank lost his appetite. That was a warning sign, because Hank would never pass up waffle fries, or any kind of fried potatoes for that matter.

When we returned home, Hank collapsed on the floor and was unable to stand up. He was having trouble breathing and cried out in pain more than once. Hank never let out such a cry, so I knew he was feeling pain that he’d never felt in all of his 14 years. Even the puppy Jaxon knew this was very serious.

We rushed Hank to Companion Animal Hospital. Dr. Jennifer Kelly, her assistant Kate, and the rest of the team worked on Hank for hours. Despite their efforts, he was unable to breathe on his own.

They did not think he’d make it through the night. We knew he was in severe pain. Not being able to breathe without a mask is no way to live, especially for a dog with Hank’s spirit.

I made the painful decision to let Hank rest in peace.

We cried the whole way home.

Hank’s Legacy

With no preparation whatsoever, I have the enormous task of making sense of Hank’s legacy to everyone. Hank wrote most of the posts here. That’s probably why I’d get the response “Oh, you mean Hank’s blog” when I would mention this site to people I’d meet out on the trails. I guess I’ve just had a care-free existence to this point, at least when it comes to writing and deep thinking. This incomprehensible responsibility has been thrust upon me in the harshest way possible. I didn’t want it, certainly not in this dreadful way.

Sure, I suppose at times I did dream of being a lead dog. But I always thought that when such a day came, I’d be standing on a three-story balcony of a large country home, proudly proclaiming that Hank passed the torch to me. The adoring crowd below would hang on my every word.

Of course, reality was much, much harsher than my imaginings. Since losing Hank, I’ve been numb and have this big void in my life. The entire house is in a funk. I know that nothing I write here will lift our spirits. I don’t want to replace Hank, whether as a writer or some other way. I just want our dear friend back and am powerless to pull that off on my own.

Deep inside, I know that enormous responsibilities go with being a Norfolk Terrier, so I’ll do my very best, just like Hank always did.

Whenever Hank had a bout of writer’s block, he looked for inspiration from famous writers to lend a paw. I tried that same approach, and I found these words from Hermione Gingold,

To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice, though inasmuch as he had four legs, a tail, and barked, I admit he was, to all outward appearances. But to those who knew him well, he was a perfect gentleman.

Not everyone who reads this will know Hank as well as I did, so to make everything clear I should start at the beginning.

The Early Days Were Just Hank & the Cats

Hank came onboard in 2004 and paved the way for all of us.

In the early days, it was just Hank and 2 cats, Shania the cat and Cagney the cat. When Shania didn’t want to play with Cagney, Hank was eager to step in and wrestle Cagney or engage her in a friendly battle of tug-o-war. He told stories about chasing Shania around the garage, but we knew he never caught her. We all tried, but none of us ever caught Shania the cat.

Hank was the only one of us who could play with cats. Cagney the cat doesn’t like dogs very much. Hank was the only dog who managed to get Cagney to play. He could spend hours kicking around ideas with Milo the cat just as easily as he could take a nap with Lexi the kitten.

Knowing how cats are, that’s saying a lot.

And it was that way with every cat Hank ever met.

Our Confident Leader

Hank was our confident leader, quiet one minute but barking up a storm when something didn’t sit right with him.

He had a knack for quickly knowing what to do in just about every situation or what words to use to get his point across. Me, I have to find big words in a dictionary, which is full of big words. The best word I found in one dictionary to describe Hank was “indomitable.”

Something indomitable can’t be beat. People described as having indomitable spirits don’t need pep talks or protein shakes; their strength comes from within.

That was Hank. He didn’t need a protein shake – he was our protein shake. Throughout my life, when I’ve encountered a problem, I’ve thought about what Hank would do in the same situation. That saved me more than once. I won’t be forgetting those lessons anytime soon.

Hank loved meeting puppies. It gave him another opportunity to remind everyone that he was the lead dog. But he never flinched whenever we ran into a tough mutt on the trail, and we ran into a lot of tough mutts. Hank taught me not to flinch.

As you can imagine, I have a lot of great Hank stories. My favorite Hank story was told to me by Otto.

Hank and Otto were walking in River Bend Park when they encountered a dog that was snapping at anyone that dared to walk by. Otto said that Hank walked over and lay on the ground, his back turned to the other dog concealing his pleasant grin. It was such a bold move that the dog calmed down and in no time, Hank, Otto and the once nervous dog were happily sharing stories. Otto said that Hank seemed to enjoy interactions with dogs that needed a little help.

We asked a lot of Hank, and he never let us down. He would jump up as our protector when an aggressive dog came into the picture, but he could spend hours smelling grass while we did something that couldn’t hold his attention. He taught us toughness and patience in equal measures. He didn’t let Otto get those sticks without a good effort.

He always put aside his aches and pains to join us on our next adventure, even if being a couch potato held more rewards. He used to jokingly tell us that he wasn’t the first out of bed, but he was always there when he was needed. We never had a reason to doubt him.

The Founder of Everything We Do

As many of you already know, Hank launched Norfolk Terrier Tales to share Otto’s battle with cancer in hopes of helping someone struggling with the same diagnosis.

Writing came easy to Hank, and he set high standards for this blog. When he was working on a post, his bed would be littered with rough drafts and books he studied to become a better writer.

In fact, he took everything to his bed, from screwdrivers to dust pans to oven mitts. It might seem to us that he had no particular use for the things he tucked away in the deep recesses of his bed, but I think we just lacked Hank’s imagination. He always told us that as soon as he finished his nap, he was going to put that oven mitt to good use.

Whenever some thing around the house would go missing, we’d always hear the question “Did you check Hank’s bed?” Odds were pretty good that it would be found right there, along with an odd collection of stuff that he found useful. Hank would make a fuss to try to keep hold of these gadgets, but he’d surrender them in the end, confident in his ability to track them down again.

On My First Meeting Hank

I first met Hank in 2014 outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant off a big road with a lot of cars going along at crazy speeds.

We became fast friends. He invited me back to Northern Virginia, and we wrestled the whole way back, at least when I wasn’t snoozing.

I put my best puppy moves on him but nothing seemed to faze him. He was the boss and everyone knew it. He was secure enough in his role as leader that he didn’t throw it in our faces. Every now and then, he even let us run ahead of him on the trail.

Above All Else, Hank Loved His Friends

Over time, I got to see Hank’s a gentle side and how he absolutely loved kids. He didn’t let many people pull on his ears, but he always let kids have a crack at it. His tail wagged full throttle around kids.

Otto told me that small children from the neighborhood would often stop by the house to see if he wanted to play. Hank would always go out to play with them, even if he felt dog tired. He loved being around people.

When we’d be on the trail, he would insist that we wait to greet complete strangers. Sometimes, we’d wait and wait and not even get so much as a friendly word or two. We’d be devastated when people didn’t want to chat with us. Hank never understood why some folks didn’t stop. Maybe Hank had manners from a different, now lost era. After all, he was a perfect gentleman, and that’s rare these days.

Whether people or other dogs, Hank was quick to raise his paw to show that he was a friend.

That’s one quality that Hank passed on to me: his deep love for his friends and his willingness to make new ones.

Hank Made Us Internet Stars

In time, we got used to having all of our moments plastered on the internet. Truth be told, we were glad he did all of this, because we love being the stars of the show. We knew instinctively that when the camera came out, it was our time to shine.

Hank set up our YouTube channel. The blog and our channel helped us make friends with OC the cat and Poppy and Daisy over in the UK. Even though newspapers don’t seem to be so popular these days, there was even an article about me in the paper. All I can say is thank goodness we’re Norfolk Terriers so we were well prepared for this celebrity thing.

One of our most popular videos showed one time I managed to beat Hank and win a prized paper coffee cup. When I’d see the views ratchet up, it gave me a nice boost to think that people appreciated what a big accomplishment I had just pulled off in the one time I managed to beat Hank.

Watching it now, I realize he made me work hard to beat him, but in the end he let me win. I think Hank wanted to teach us, to make us better, and he did that. I won the coffee cup, but Hank won something pretty important too.

Hank, the Swimmer

Swimming was a big part of Hank’s life. He said he fell in a large body of water as a puppy and developed a fear of the water. As far as I know, he didn’t live near any oceans, so I don’t put a lot of stock in that. We always joked with him that it was probably just a puddle, but we had too much respect for Hank to push the joke too far. Sometime after Otto came along, his fear of the water disappeared as quickly as he acquired it, and he became addicted to swimming.

He knew all of the best creeks, rivers, streams, and puddles, but his favorite spot was the Potomac River. He explored the area around the Potomac River and especially River Bend and Great Falls Parks as thoroughly as any dog I ever met. He went there 2 times a day, rain or snow or blazing sun, for hours and hours.

When people didn’t see Hank they would always ask, “where is he swimming now?” That was a fairly reasonable question, given Hank’s love for the water. His favorite gift was a swimming pool. When it was too cold to swim outside, he rented time at spa with a heated pool.

A Dog & His Contradictions

Hank would defend his bed with a bark that would make your knees buckle, but he could be just as happy sleeping in a paper box. He was tough as nails, but we’d sometimes hear rumors to the effect he was afraid of thunder.

To make a joke out of it, we bought him a Thunder Shirt, and he’d wear it proudly, almost mocking us to think he’d be afraid of something as harmless as the weather. He told me he often wore that Thunder Shirt when he went with Otto to the vet, but he never explained why, since that was pretty much indoors.

I Love Pictures

I’m not the best writer, so I’ve put a lot of pictures here to help get my point across. Myself, I love pictures. A lot of people have told me they like pictures too. Hopefully, you’re just like those other people, at least with respect to enjoying pictures.

I put pictures of smiling Hank and relaxing Otto on the wall. I look at them every day to keep the fire of those memories burning strong.

I even heard a song that people tell me is by a famous musician that’s all about photographs, so I’m not alone in appreciating a good picture.

Ev’ry time I see your face, it reminds me of the places we used to go.Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

I listen to that song a lot. It’s a pretty good song. When I hear it, I can’t help pulling out the pictures to remind me of the great times we enjoyed together on the trail.

The last few months were tough on Hank. He had issues with his vision and his hearing. Sometimes, his hind legs were so weak that one of us needed to give him a push up the stairs. Whatever struggles he faced, he still enjoyed chasing me or the cats. He probably couldn’t even see Jaxon, but he still chased him so he’d toughen up.

When we learned that Hank was having problems with his eyes and ears, I tried to do some reading on others who had the same kind of problems.

I came across this woman from a long time ago, Helen Keller. At first when I started to write this post, I couldn’t remember her name, but when I went back to find it, I came across these words of hers:

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.Helen Keller

Helen Keller

We loved Hank. He will always be a part of us.

For me, the photographs are a constant reminder to make sure it is a part of me that I never, ever lose. I won’t let you down, Hank.

Our Favorite Photographs of Hank