I could write endless pages about how good of a friend Duke was. Duke passed away on 10/19/01. He lived everyday to it's fullest. Duke and I had been hanging out for about 10 years. Duke adopted me about that long ago and we have been together all day everyday for all of those years. Duke and I did everthing together, he was my co-pilot on Dead tour for many years. He even made it into several Dead Shows. Duke was inside for the last Dead show in Chicago, he got himself in, and I ran into him on the way out of the show. What a great suprise that was.
Duke was also a master at the game of fetch. He lived for the game, he was serious about the game. When he first adopted me I could not get him to eat anything, unless I played fetch with what ever it was that I had for him to eat. His favorite thing to fetch was a ball but Duke was flexable and could come up with something to fetch no matter where we were. He often would bring an empty water bottle to play with, there were lots of those in the Dead lot. There were a few times that he got a bottle that was not empty, or that someone was still drinking out of. He often founds balls at peoples house that had dogs and they had never seen the ball that Duke would find. He was so smart, if you needed a break from fetch you could tell him to take 5 and he would take a break or go to the next person that was around. You could also tell him that you could not see it when he put it down, and he would move it closer or put it in your hand.
One thing that I always told Duke was that he was "The Best One" and he was. He was so well behaved it is hard to put it into words. I could leave a plate of food on the floor and leave Duke alone with it and he would not eat it. He had the highest morals, and he understood everything. I treated him like a son and like a person, he was to me a dude in a fur suit. He had a heart of gold. He loved everyone, and everyone that knew him loved him.
Duke was very well traveled, and was a great traveling companion. He traveled to Key West a fews times after the Dead played Miami. He traveled to the very tip of Maine and was in Vermont a few times. Duke has spent time in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angelies, just to name a few. He knew the ropes when it came to traveling, he mostly was off the leash, and only had to have one when cops made us use one. Even in the city, Duke did not need a leash, he knew that he had to stop at the corners and wait for me to catch up. He never went in the road without checking first. Even if the ball went in the road, he would stop at the edge and wait for me to go and get it. Like I said, he knew everything. In ten years he never did anything wrong. It is hard to believe, but true. He was a perfect friend in every way. He will forever be in my heart.
To anyone that knew Duke and would like to write something about him, I would love to add your thoughts to the page. You can e-mail me at big@shocking.com and I will add it to the site. Pictures that you may have would be greatly appreciated too.I have more photos to add as soon as I can get my head together enough to hook up the scanner. I will also be adding more thoughts as I am able..
Often times I wish I could have gone with him.