Meet one year old Duke Johns of Wildhorse, an adorable Golden Retriever and German shepherd mix. Duke, who is full of energy and love, has become an irreplaceable family member of the Johns family. Duke’s family includes his mom and dad, Kerri and Keith, who will always love his energetic lap dog nature (even though he is 85 pounds), their son Tripp, who is an outstanding college baseball player at Missouri State in West Plains, and their daughter Leenie, an amazing teacher at Green Pines Elementary, and a compassionate coach for the Eureka High School Golden Line dance team. Even though Duke has plenty of human family, Duke also has another 15-year-old dog sister, Molly who is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mix.

 

Duke’s relationship with the Johns began when some of Tripp’s classmates purchased him and soon realized that they could not care for such an energetic puppy in their dorm. Tripp, who had already set eyes on Duke, could not let him go back to the owner and decided to take Duke himself. However, because Tripp is on the baseball team, he is very busy with workouts and practicing and has a back to back schedule. Since he couldn’t care for him but couldn’t dare let him go, he gave little Duke at 10 weeks old to Keith and Kerri, who would help him take care of Duke. Now, if Tripp wants to come see Duke, he can anytime!

 

Tripp also chose Duke’s name, saying that he thought it suited his nature just perfectly. Besides Duke’s amazing story, Duke is known for his especially annoying and cute quirks like tearing open any ball that Kieth uses to play ball with him, sitting comfortably on Kerri’s lap, or giving Lennie countless high fives just because he feels like it.

 

You may think that training is a hard job, true, but Amanda, Duke’s trainer, has made it look easy! According to the Johns, Duke was a transformed puppy in just a few weeks because of their amazing trainer, Amanda. They really appreciate her hard work in training Duke. Because of Duke’s energetic nature, sometimes he has to get the wiggles out, and have an occasional full on sprint moment.

 

One of the most memorable and alarming stories that Duke has with his human family happened when they were driving home from a friend’s house. With the Johns window cracked down just enough for Duke to squish through, Duke jumped straight out of the moving truck! Despite this alarming jump, and Duke’s broken leg, an injury from the jump, everyone in the family was glad Duke was not hurt even more.

 

One thing that is hilarious about Duke is that he is very terrified of large trucks and will freeze in the middle of walks with any of the Johns when a big truck comes by, and will shiver in fear every week when the trash truck comes by.

 

The arrival of Duke has brought in light in the darkness for the Johns’ because they recently lost their 14-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mix, Buddy, who had an amazing impact in their lives. Duke not only helped heal the scar that the passing of Buddy left in the Johns hearts, he also represents a firefly at night; a savior that the Johns needed at that moment in life.  Duke is not only a memories saver and a lovable dog, he also brought renewed comfort, hope, and joy back into the Johns’ home.