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![]() Fiji (Terrier) - 1982-1993, aged 17 years (she was estimated by the vet to be six years old when we found her) Patch - 1982-1997 - aged 16 years old. (He was one year old when we got him from Bristol Dogs Home) Until we meet
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Fiji was the first dog we ever had. Clive found her just after Christmas walking a railway line. She had no name tag and looked in a bad condition. He
brought her home. We soon discovered she had seizures. The vet put her on tablets and said she would have to remain on them for the rest of her life.
However, she got worse and one day, just after she collapsed, I threw all her tablets away and got Denes herbal remedies. Over the years, her seizures
reduced and she lived until 17. She's the one dog I've still got a bond with even now. She was a very very clever dog. Benji (my other dog) and her
would have made a superb couple. Both extremely clever and with a mind of their own.
One day when I was at home playing computer games and really engrossed, Fiji tried to gain my attention, but I ignored her and told her to go and play in the garden. I heard her going out of the lounge door and I did ponder what she was doing. I didn't hear her come back in, but the next thing - there she is sat right in front of the television I was playing my game on, holding her empty water bowl in her mouth. When I took her for her evening walk, one day she pulled me in the opposite direction to where we normally walk. I decided to give in to her, because she wouldn't budge unless I did, and decided to go where she wanted to go. She took me right outside the Fish and Chip shop, sat down and refused to budge. So I decided to buy her a piece of fish. She ate every mouthful but never again did she do that. Whether she had hoped I would get her chicken......! Fiji and my husband never got on...well, more so her with him! She was a one-person dog, and that person was me. Shortly after having her, she jumped up on an old chair that nobody used, but hubby told her to get off. She looked at me and I told her she could stay there and that that chair in future would be hers. I am really not exaggerating when I say this, my word of honour, but she looked at Clive and gave one flick up and down of her tail as if to say "so there!" Even now, I miss her terribly. Patch was a typical dog. He always enjoyed finding a way out of our garden and going wanders on his own, but always returning four hours later. We never knew where he went, nor how he got out. He always knew if we were watching! We got Patch to keep Fiji company when we were at work. They got on quite well together, but Fiji was the boss and she made sure Patch knew it. When the postman came, they'd both go running towards the door and God help Patch if he got there first. Mind you, Patch knew how to get his own back. If Fiji was chewing a chew and he had had already eaten his, all he had to do was bark and Fiji would run straight to the door, thinking someone was there or that it was the postman. Patch would then grab her chew. She'd come back wondering where it had gone! They were like Tom and Jerry, but in a nice way. |
![]() 1993-17th December 2007 Pippin filled the void that was left by Fiji. (She was one year old when we got her from Holly Hedge Sanctuary) Au revoir
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Sadly, we had to have Pippin pts. She was aged 15. About a month ago we took her to the vets and was told that her condition was due to
old age. About a week ago she gave up eating; could eat but simply didn't want to. If we put food in her mouth she would simply drop it to the floor.
She would just lie on the floor all day and only get up if she needed to go into the garden. We treated her homeopathically and for a while she did start
to show a small interest in food, but it didn't last. When I got home from work yesterday Pippin wasn't there, so I knew Clive had taken her to the vets.
It was the right thing to do. I think she would have gone by the end of the evening. We didn't leave her at the vets but took her to a place called Companions Haven, which is a family-run crematorium for companion pets. They have a Chapel of Rest where you can say your goodbyes before she's cremated and the ashes returned to you. We scattered them in her favourite place in our front garden by the gate where she loved to sit and look at the house, as if she was keeping watch. She was a great girl and like a mother to our other two dogs, especially Benji, because she loved puppies. When we first brought Benji home he was three months old and she adored him. I remember one day they were both sat in the kitchen while I was doing some toast. I gave Pippin a piece of toast and she dropped it in front of Benji for him to eat first. She has given us such wonderful memories, but there are two that will stand out the most and both occurred in Snuff Mills - a place I liken to a fairyland in the heart of Bristol. In those days she ran like a bullet, and we were walking through there one day when she suddenly just took off and headed straight towards an old lady with a very small puppy. Well, the look on that lady's face when she saw this black labrador running like a bullet towards her I can't help but laugh about it now, but I was just too far away to make her hear that Pippin wouldn't hurt her. It was the puppy that Pippin was interested in. She was licking it all over as if she was cleaning him. i apologised to the lady, but she could see that Pippin just genuinely loved the puppy and she didn't mind. The other occasion, and I wish I'd had a camera on me, was when I was walking through Snuff Mills with her on a beautiful summer's day and I was miles away in a daydream - Snuff Mills gets you like that - and I suddenly heard a little girl's voice say, "That dog's got my bread." I remember ignoring it and carrying on walking. She then became a little louder and again said, "That dog's got my bread." For some reason I thought to myself, dog, bread. I knew Pippin ate bread, because she would eat all the bits and pieces I threw out for the birds. Anyway, I came out of my daydream and I will never ever forget what I saw. There were nine baby ducklings all huddled together in a section of the river near the bank - and I could have picked all nine up in the palm of my hand, that's how small they were - and there was Pippin in the river catching the pieces of bread that the little girl was trying to throw for the ducklings. She came out when I shouted at her and shook herself all over me. Mind you, I did need cooling down at that point because I was in a fret that she may have snapped the ducklings accidentally. She's had a very good life and a lot of wonderful experiences and every year she went on holidays with all of us, so she has thoroughly enjoyed her time on Earth. I hope Patch is at Rainbow Bridge to meet her, because he idolised her; so too did Sly, my sister's dog, who was pts a few weeks ago and was also a Labrador-x., similar to Pippin. To us she will always be known as Mother Pippin. Time to move on, girl, to pastures new! |
![]() 1997-26th September 2008 - aged 13 years. Lucky filled the void that was left by Patch (He was two years old when we got him from Holly Hedge Sanctuary) Au revoir, not goodbye
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Nine months after saying goodbye to our Pippin, dear old Lucky was sent to join her. He hadn't been himself for some months, and the vet said he could give
him a booster to boost his energy levels up, but there would not have been quality of life and so we decided to do the best thing for him.
Lucky was aged 13. We got him from Holly Hedge Sanctuary at the age of 2. They classed him as a juvenile delinquent. He had had two homes before us and neither could cope with him - so We were third time lucky. We decided to keep his name - Lucky by name, Lucky by nature! We didn't know then there were any problems with Lucky except we were told by the Sanctuary that when they found him he was in such a bad state they didn't think he would live, and that a carer used to stay at the Sanctuary during the night just to comfort him because he was so distressed. Poor Lucky was such a traumatised dog that it took two years of him being with us before I actually started seeing a difference in him and knew that at last he was beginning to settle. He used to fear anything that moved, even a leaf; even little puppies that were no bigger than the palm of my hand that just wanted to play with him he wouldn't walk past them, I had to carry him, and if one did start coming towards him he'd run in the opposite direction with tail between legs and ears right back. Everytime I came home from work he would look at me as if I was a total stranger. If I talked to him to try and reassure him, it would make him worse. In the end I found the best course of treatment was to ignore him totally and not even speak to him, but just go about my business as if he wasn't there. If I did that, he would be the first to come round me and lick me and rub into me to gain my attention. He was fine then but I had to let him come to me; not me go to him. We had him vaccinated when we had him, because we didn't know about the vaccination issue, and within three months of doing that I suddenly found he had no fur on his leg. It was then that I took him to a homeopathic vet and within two weeks of just giving him three little tablets and monitoring progress, his fur had started to grow back. And it was around about that time that the World in Action programme was shown with Catherine O'Driscoll highlighting the scam of the yearly vaccination programm. Lucky's the only dog I've ever known turn his nose up at a raw meaty bone. It's not that he can't eat them, because unbeknown to me he had managed to grab a cooked lamb bone from a dustbin I'd thrown out one Sunday lunch time, a big one at that, and my god he wouldn't let anyone go near him. He will eat raw tripe, but try putting down any other raw meat - forget it; he'd rather starve than eat it and I am not exaggerating. He soon gained confidence and became a much loved dog. Without Lucky I would never have taken an interest in Homoeopathy, so I thank him for that. Lucky was a character and there'll never be another dog like him. Pippin had a lot of patience with him (bless her), because up the field he used to love to chase her, jump on her back, and pull her down. He'd come running back towards us real pleased with himself. Pippin took it all in her stride and never once lost her temper with him. |
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Many beautiful poems on
grief can be found at Poetic Expressions The Rev. Dale Turner |
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Darcy 2001 to 19.04.2006 (Satu) |
from A Dog Beside Me - a book of poems (For Sorrel) by Joyce Stranger
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Shades of GoldAs much as I loved the life we had and all the times we played,
I saw the most beautiful Rainbow, and on the other side
I needed to reach out to you, to tell you I'm alright
For although we may not be together in the way we used to be, We are still connected by a cord no eye can see. So whenever you need to find me, we're never far apart If you look beyond the Rainbow and listen with your heart. |
Sorrow
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Tread Carefully
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![]() Pinkie |
She has gone
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![]() Valentine It is with GREAT Sadness, I had to say good bye, to my little best friend |
God's GardenGod looked around his garden |
To this World![]() Flash "ShananRo Sheer Indulgence" (Linda) To this world you came ! |
Memoriesby Joyce Stranger WilsonThere are shadows in my garden That only I can see The dogs so gaily playing That once belonged to me They run round in sunshine They lie panting in the shade They are racing through the hedges, They are chasing through the glade. They come to me at nightfall They are lying by my chair Yet, to other people, There is only one dog there. Personal Tributes to dearly departed companions |
Only we who grieveTis only we who grieve They do not leave They are not gone They look upon us still They walk among the valleys now They stride upon the hill Their smile is in the summer sky Their grace is in the breeze Their memories whisper in the grass Their calm is in the trees Their light is in the winter snow Their tears are in the rain Their merriment runs in the brook Their laughter in the lane Their gentleness is in the flowers They sigh in autumn leaves They do not leave They are not gone tis only we who grieve |
Phoebe Phoebe was about ten weeks old the first time I saw her, playing with her two sisters Rosie and Rachel at her breeder's (Miss Pat Jones).... three such pretty babies.... I had long admired their handsome sire Shep (Ch Wellknowe Craftsman) and loved the temperament of their clever mum Panda (Wellknowe Four Seasons) so took a special interest in this litter. Click here to read more - In Memory of our Beautiful Girl Phoebe |
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