By STEVE SHERK Jr.

Special to The Era

Last week, I had to put down my dog, Duke, after 12 amazing years.

It was probably the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever had to do.

It was 12 years ago this month that my wife and I bought Duke. He was a pure blooded German shepherd from Wellsville, N.Y. He was just a tiny puppy when we brought him home, but at one time he grew to be more than 120 pounds.

Duke and I immediately built an amazing relationship in the outdoors.

He loved to hike and he even enjoyed tagging along with me fishing.

Even though Duke wasn’t a typical hunting dog, he did love hunting. He had a passion for chasing down chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits, while he only experienced success a few times. Nevertheless, Duke’s favorite animal was turkeys. I can’t say he loved them, but he was always excited to see them. Turkeys became a passion of his because I took him fall turkey hunting when he was just a couple years old. I ended up wounding a turkey and he chased it down several hundred years and killed it. Since that day, he was obsessed with them. Duke was so obsessed with turkeys that on two different occasions he jumped out of the back window of my truck to chase them.

Whenever he was riding with me and we would see turkeys, I had to make sure all the windows were rolled up. He once broke the rear view mirror off of my windshield because he saw turkeys in the road in front of us and he tried to escape to go after them.

As Duke got older, he started to develop knee issues. By the time he was eight years old, his hikes in the woods were very short. And once he reached the age of 10, we never really went on another good hike again.

Nevertheless, when Duke turned 10 years old, I made a decision to spend as much time as I possibly could with him. Even though Duke was a great family dog, I was his true companion and wherever I went, he always wanted to tag along with me.

So during his last two years of life, he literally came with me everywhere. Whether it was work, baseball games or even the grocery store, Duke was always in my truck, just happy to know he was with me. At times during the hot days of summer I had to leave my truck running for hours with the air conditioning on, just to keep him comfortable. However, I knew any day at that point could be his last and I wanted to make the best of every day I had with him. I’d wake up every day and thank God for another day with Duke.

A lot of my hunting friends were always so surprised that I never had a true hunting dog.

Yet, they had no clue just how much Duke and I shared hunting experiences together, especially in the last couple years of his life. There was no doubt in my mind that when I would get my hunting clothes on and load my gear in the truck, Duke knew I was going hunting and he wanted to hop in the truck with me.

Even though he wasn’t tagging along with me in the woods, he would patiently wait in the truck for me to return from each hunt, hoping that I’d bring back some kind of wild game for him to see.

Even during the times I’d come back with nothing, Duke would always sniff me in the truck for certain smells and I’d even tell him all about my hunt on the drive back home.

Maybe he didn’t understand what I was saying, but for some reason I felt like he was truly listening.

I’ve been so fortunate in my life to have such great family and friends; however, I’ve never had a better friend than Duke.

I’ve never seen someone or something be so loyal and loving on a daily basis. There were times when he licked the tears off of my face and would rest his head on my shoulders when I was sad. There was never a day he didn’t show love and care for me, even during his young days when I had to discipline him. He laid by me every night, always watching the doors of the house to protect me and my family. I don’t think I’ll ever own a true hunting dog.

I’m not much of a bird hunter and I’m not sure I’ll ever want to try and replace the love and companionship Duke gave me. The truth is, I didn’t need a real hunting dog. Really what always mattered to me was just another day with Duke.