During 2025, Bill and I were so sad to lose our lovely cockerpoo Monty, who died of a mystery illness. The day before he died, we walked through some very old woodland in our nearby market town and he chased squirrels, sniffed out a sleeping hedgehog and he seemed bright and perky. I had made an appointment with my vet only because Monty was a bit off his food and drinking so much, I had wondered if he was diabetic.
We still do not know why he collapsed at the vet’s the following morning and, even after he had a scan and an intravenous drip, we were none the wiser. He died that evening and we were devastated. He was only 10 years old and had never had a day’s sickness in all that time.
I was sure I could not go through this again and we have remained dogless ever since, but oh how I have missed the sound of those little claws on my workroom floor!
This month really brought my loss in to focus as I designed a cross stitch project for the June issue of Stolen Moments (The CSG magazine) entitled ‘Inspired by Dog Walks’ and, of course, it brought it all back to me.
Now here is the rub. I am 77 at the end of May and Bill will be 78 in October, and we have had number of conversations about getting a new puppy and if this a responsible thing to do. Maybe not, but after much deliberation, we are going to do it anyway. I am talking to a breeder at the moment and hope to give you an update soon.
In the meantime, let me share the wonderful dogs that we have been lucky enough to live with. I can still remember Bill’s face when I explained that buying Pinks Barn with its solid stone floors was just perfect for our first dog – that was Charlie, a bearded Collie. He was a lovely dog, chewed very little but did bury things. I had attended Hardanger classes whilst staying with friends in South Carolina and stitched a scissor keep and bought beautiful scissors to go with it as a treat. Charlie buried them in the garden. Bumble, our second beardie boy was almost perfect, but when I returned home from a London show proudly clutching two pairs identical pairs of red Camper shoes, he chewed both left ones. I have already started thinking about how to puppy proof the house. I’m getting a blanket box to store my shoes.
