Oakley Taylor

07/25/2020 - 11/11/2023

Oakley was born in July 2020 in Fort Worth Texas. He came home to his mom, Meg
Taylor, and her friend, Chris Cook in September 2020. Meg remembers Chris picking
Oakley out from his litter because of his sweet eyes and butterball appearance. Oakley
lived in Waco, Texas with Meg and Chris (and Chris’ cat, Halloween) until a new
adventure called Oakley and his mom to move to Madison, Wisconsin for Meg’s PhD.
There, he met many new friends at the Madison area dog parks as well as all his
wonder fur and hoo-man friends at DogHaus University on Park St. He spent countless
hours in their care over the past 3 years while his mom was in school and made a huge
impact in the high school play group. He also was a mascot of sorts for several of his
mom’s communities on the UW-Madison campus, such as the Biophysics PhD
program, the Eagle Heights Community Garden group, and the Romero Lab of UWMadison Biochemistry.
Oakley crossed rainbow bridge in November 2023 after a short battle with an
aggressive cancer, leaving a huge hole in many people’s hearts, both in Texas and
Madison. He leaves behind his companion cat, Ron Weasley, to watch over his mom.
He thanks his mom’s school friends, Takuma and Dhaval, who were with him and his
mom until the end. He thanks all of his friends DHU and hopes his fur twin Fezzik can
keep the lively playgroup going since his departure.
Our catchphrase for Oakley’s treatment and his life was – “To know Oakley is to love
him.” He was always the gentlest giant, always first to greet new dogs at the park and
always so gently with his friends—even small kittens. We will miss him so much but are
so grateful for the time we got with him in this lifetime.
We thank Odyssey Vet, VCA Middleton, and MPS for their assistance in his treatment
and care until the end.