Wednesday 19th September 2018
Yeti
Back in March, our oldest dog Yeti, a Munsterlander, was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and we were told that without treatment, the average life expectancy for a dog at her stage (stage three) was 4-6 weeks. Well, we decided against chemo (once a week to the vets and a day of feeling crap) and having opted for the steroids (with mis-givings), Yeti then had a really bad reaction to them, so we knocked those on the head too. And so we braced ourselves and lamented the fact she would not be around when we took delivery of our new puppy at the start of July!
Fast forward a whopping SIX months, during which time Yeti just carried on being Yeti: fit, active, a total daddy's girl, a superb ratter, always on the go… until just a week or so ago when we finally began to realize that she wasn’t indestructible after all and that the cancer really was getting the better of her. And at almost 11 years old, general old age had begun to play its part too.
Last Wednesday we said goodbye. We've said goodbye four times previously: all the dogs in our origimal 'gang of five' (Rabbit, Pheasant, Newpole, Lobster and Yeti) are no longer with us. It never gets easier, you always think 'could I have given them one more day, a week, two weeks?'. You look back at photos and cry and laugh and smile. You seek out the cute puppy pictures in particular and are amazed at how different they looked. You put away feeding bowls and collars. You remember swimming in rivers, playing in the snow, how fast they ran when you threw their ball. You recall the bad times (Yeti chased a bullock when she was six months oldl!!). You remember the other people whose lives they touched (including my brother who is not really a 'dog' person and yet rather fell in love with Yeti).
And you say thank you that they allowed you to be their owner and that they loved you and wanted to be with you and willingly sought you out for a chuckle or a treat or simply to walk beside you!
Each time a dog leaves us, we name a gate on our smallholding in their honour - we realized tonight we should get proper plaques made and actually fix them to the gates - even the two out of the five who never knew our smallholding here have gates named after them.
Yeti’s gate is the gate leading from our 4-acre into the bottom 3-acre. She used to enjoy sitting quielty looking through it as we leaned over it and looked at the view. She was quite happy to wait for us to satart moving again: she did have impeccable manners! We are left with five dogs (all Setters - what were we thinking??) and the house feels empty!!
But we will move on! When they go, dogs have this amazing ability to make you both grieve and celebrate at the same time and having five whipper-snappers still around (the oldest is only 7) is somewhat 'grounding'!
Here's to all our dogs: past, present and future: our lives would be sooo less rich without you.
Thanks Yeti!!!
Last Wednesday we said goodbye. We've said goodbye four times previously: all the dogs in our origimal 'gang of five' (Rabbit, Pheasant, Newpole, Lobster and Yeti) are no longer with us. It never gets easier, you always think 'could I have given them one more day, a week, two weeks?'. You look back at photos and cry and laugh and smile. You seek out the cute puppy pictures in particular and are amazed at how different they looked. You put away feeding bowls and collars. You remember swimming in rivers, playing in the snow, how fast they ran when you threw their ball. You recall the bad times (Yeti chased a bullock when she was six months oldl!!). You remember the other people whose lives they touched (including my brother who is not really a 'dog' person and yet rather fell in love with Yeti).
And you say thank you that they allowed you to be their owner and that they loved you and wanted to be with you and willingly sought you out for a chuckle or a treat or simply to walk beside you!
Each time a dog leaves us, we name a gate on our smallholding in their honour - we realized tonight we should get proper plaques made and actually fix them to the gates - even the two out of the five who never knew our smallholding here have gates named after them.
Yeti’s gate is the gate leading from our 4-acre into the bottom 3-acre. She used to enjoy sitting quielty looking through it as we leaned over it and looked at the view. She was quite happy to wait for us to satart moving again: she did have impeccable manners! We are left with five dogs (all Setters - what were we thinking??) and the house feels empty!!
But we will move on! When they go, dogs have this amazing ability to make you both grieve and celebrate at the same time and having five whipper-snappers still around (the oldest is only 7) is somewhat 'grounding'!
Here's to all our dogs: past, present and future: our lives would be sooo less rich without you.
Thanks Yeti!!!