A Tribute to Rooney 8.30.25

When our son Carter graduated from James Madison University in 2014, he decided he wanted a purebred English Bulldog as a graduation present.  In addition, because Carter was a big soccer fan, he decided to name his dog Rooney – after the famous Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney. So, that is how we ended up with Rooney in our family.  Yesterday, after being with us for over eleven years, Rooney was euthanized.  

It happened so quickly.  Up until three weeks ago he seemed fine.  Yes, he was having a little more trouble going up and down stairs. And he moved slower than he used to, but he had no major health issues.  However, during the weekend of our 40th Anniversary – we noticed that Roo was having trouble holding his urine and was constantly wanting to go outside to urinate. And it got progressively worse – quickly. He began urinating constantly in the house. So, we took him to the vet. The diagnoses – a cancerous tumor in his bladder. And then a week ago, blood appeared constantly in his urine. You could tell he was in a lot of pain and discomfort. So, we had him highly medicated Thursday on anti-anxiety, steroids and pain killers to give him one more comfortable lake day. Carter, Jack and liv were here.  So, yesterday – the Friday morning before Labor Day weekend – Elizabeth and Carter took him to the vet.  

Rooney is our 4th dog that we have had to euthanize. The others were all boxers. Carolina, Randy and Grizzy lived to 8, 9 and 7 years respectively. Rooney, bless his English Bull Dog heart, was over 11 years old. He had a wonderful life. But it is so hard to say goodbye.

And even though he was struggling during his last morning with us, he still wanted to climb the steep steps to my office, which for some reason had become one of his favorite spots to hang out.  Maybe it was because Roo always wanted to be where the action was.  So, that morning, I had some alone time with Roo in my office.  And while he lay on the dog bed in my office doing his heavy Rooney breathing and making his pig noises every now and then, I cried.

Although Rooney was Carter’s dog, he had lived with us at the Lake for the past two years while Carter attended UNC to get his master’s degree. And so, I was with Rooney almost every day. And maybe that is why I am taking his departure so much harder than our previous three dogs. And as I sit in my office now writing this, I miss him, but I somehow feel his presence. And maybe I will for a while.  However, I know, like our other dogs, that my memories of him will get dimmer and dimmer.  And I do not want that to happen.  So, am writing this. 

Mister, as Carter sometimes liked to call him, had so much personality. As one of our friends said, “Rooney knew how to fill a room.” As Johnny Cash said about Elvis – “when Elvis was in a room, his presence permeated everything.”  That was Roo. He loved attention and he loved showering attention on small kids – sometimes too much attention – if you know what I mean.  He would sometimes shower the same type of attention on our neighbor’s great Dane next door.  Now, that was something funny to watch!

Quirks – Rooney had more special quirks than any other dog I have known.  First, he loved riding in cars – any car.  He also loved sitting in chairs – as if he was a person.  However, when it came to chairs in our house, he would not sit or rest in a chair in our house unless it had a relatively clean towel on it. And it had to be perfectly smoothed out.  He would sit there and bark next to the chair until you went over and showed him that you had smoothed out the towel, even if it was already smoothed out!  So, Roo was very particular about certain things.  

Rooney not only loved to sit in chairs, he also loved to perch himself up on a high spot. One of his favorite spots near the lake was the upside-down hull of the small sailboat on our beach. He would sit there like he was king surveying everything around him. Rooney also loved getting under small trees and bushes, especially if you were trying to get him back into the house. And this behavior manifested in different ways, including wanting to sit or lay down under our Christmas tree – as if he was God’s gift to everyone!

One thing Rooney was not fond of was walking.  Some people claim to be allergic to exercise. I think Rooney was allergic to walking. It was never his style.  However, when we did manage to get him to go on walks, he always preferred to follow the lines on the road.  He would literally treat the white lines on our street as if they were a tightrope that he had to stay on. 

More on walking. Rooney was very social. And because he was so social, whenever a group of us would go for a walk, he became conflicted. He would sometimes walk out the door with us on his leash and then think better of it and want to walk back in the house.  When he did begrudgingly join the pack occasionally, he would inevitably stop in his tracks at some point and not budge. And everyone would have to cajole him back to the house. 

He rarely ran. And when he did, it was in short bursts.  I saw Rooney truly run for any significant distance only once – while we were on a “short walk”. Carter had returned home after being away. And as he passed us in his car, he slowed down, rolled down his window and said “hi” to Roo. Roo pulled at his leash so hard to follow the car that we let him off. He ran after that car all the way home! We laughed so hard. He thought he was going to have a heart attack!

Routines – Keeping me company in my office was not our only routine at the Lake House. Others included me sharing banana and peanut butter with him and our other dog Emmy Lou in the mornings, climbing into our bed in the morning, walking around the back yard while I sat in the Adirondack chair drinking coffee, sunning himself in the corner of our back deck, and Roo laying on the floor next to the sofa while I petted him as we watched TV. 

Rooney was special to our family. He, like all dogs, seem to hold a very special place in our hearts – a place that humans cannot occupy. They love us unconditionally. Their joy over simple things is intense and immediate. And that joy gets transferred to us. They are ALWAYS IN THE MOMENT. We could learn a thing or two from them. 

I was on the phone with a former colleague yesterday who has gone through a very difficult two years. She has two dogs. I told her about Roo. And she confided that getting through the past two years would have been so much more difficult without her two constant companions. And so, our dogs are also our best friends and our therapists. They just listen and rarely interrupt. They literally and figuratively walk beside us. 

I cannot imagine what I will do when my dog, Emmy Lou passes away.  She, even more than Rooney, has been by my side over the past eight years. And I feel so bad for her right now.  She misses Rooney so much.  Yesterday, when Rooney did not come back you could tell that she was looking and listening for him. She would hear a noise and immediately cock her head up.  She would not relax.  While we were away at a client dinner, Carter said that he could not get Emmy to go downstairs.  I guess she was waiting for Roo before she would go down. The two of them almost always did things together – other than walk.

And she was restless last night. Emmy kept waking up and walking over to our bed. And this morning, she began whining.   So, I let her out the front door so she could go to the bathroom.  And all she did was stand on the front steps with her ears straight up and look down the driveway – as if she would see Roo come sauntering up to the porch as he always did when he would take his sweet time coming back from being let out.  However, there was no Rooney.  I know that her pain, like mine, will subside with time. But I will miss calling out,  “Roo, Roo and Emmy Lou … Roo, Roo and Emmy Lou… it’s time to come in.”

Davis’ prayer for Rooney, which he shared was, “God help Rooney pass to you in peace knowing he has been a good dog, and he will always be loved.”

Amen Davis.

Carter, thank you for wanting Rooney as your college graduation present…