Sir Trev
16-04-17, 04:39 PM
It is with great sadness that Sir Trev and Lady Poppy announce the loss of Jackie, our much loved Black Lab. Some of you will remember that she never took a great photo and always looked a bit sad or apprehensive - well, that was Jackie's outward appearance through and through.
Jackie came to us from Stokenchurch Dog Rescue (http://stokenchurchdogrescue/), a local re-homing charity, that could only tell us that she was rescued from a council pound in South Wales. These places are death row as any animal unclaimed after a short while that is not taken in by a place such as SDR is euthanised. We never knew her exact age but she was about eight when we took her in seven years ago.
She was friendly but distant with people, hated crowds and was openly hostile to other dogs which meant we could never take her in the park almost next to our house. Training and socialising courses did not help and the behaviour experts we spoke to said either something nasty had been done to her in the past or she had never been looked after and was traumatised by it. Walks were always on a lead and around the estate to avoid meeting loose dogs - we lost track of the "it's OK, he's really friendly" comments we got when warning other owners only to see the look of horror on their faces as their dog turned nasty when they found Jackie was not happy to see them. You need to have experience of an unfriendly/anti-social dog to realise how difficult it is to tell others that they don't always know best...
It took a while but Jackie settled in with us very well. Her back legs were a bit wonky, possibly pointing to some problem or neglect in her past life, so walks were never too long and as she got a bit older her days were a blissful round of sleeping in a sunny spot or following Lady Poppy about the kitchen hoping something tasty would fall on the floor. The Monkey loved her to bits and Jackie would happily sit and be fussed over for a bit, making happy noises when her ears were scratched just so (she never did that for anyone else). When Monkey went off to uni last year Jackie spent several days wandering round the house looking for her.
Alas her bowels were not so great after a while and it was a complication in this area that lead us to make the horrible decision on Thursday last week. I came home from work at lunchtime and we headed off to the vet far too early. Sitting on the tailgate of the car for the last 30 minutes, just the three of us, watching the world go by and the other animals coming and going in the vet's car park was really peaceful. She enjoyed the fuss and different smells and just about managed to walk in under her own steam when it was time.
It's taken me three days to write this as it's been a bit of an emotional time here at Trev Towers. Plus the Monkey has been in China on a geography field trip and we wanted to speak to her first.
So long old thing. It was a pleasure to love and look after you in your second life and you will be missed more than you realise.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3934/33232006224_0709e3abcf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/SCAHEy)Jackie (https://flic.kr/p/SCAHEy) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2897/34033880606_a09eb4a8a0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TRswYW)Jackie (https://flic.kr/p/TRswYW) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr
Jackie came to us from Stokenchurch Dog Rescue (http://stokenchurchdogrescue/), a local re-homing charity, that could only tell us that she was rescued from a council pound in South Wales. These places are death row as any animal unclaimed after a short while that is not taken in by a place such as SDR is euthanised. We never knew her exact age but she was about eight when we took her in seven years ago.
She was friendly but distant with people, hated crowds and was openly hostile to other dogs which meant we could never take her in the park almost next to our house. Training and socialising courses did not help and the behaviour experts we spoke to said either something nasty had been done to her in the past or she had never been looked after and was traumatised by it. Walks were always on a lead and around the estate to avoid meeting loose dogs - we lost track of the "it's OK, he's really friendly" comments we got when warning other owners only to see the look of horror on their faces as their dog turned nasty when they found Jackie was not happy to see them. You need to have experience of an unfriendly/anti-social dog to realise how difficult it is to tell others that they don't always know best...
It took a while but Jackie settled in with us very well. Her back legs were a bit wonky, possibly pointing to some problem or neglect in her past life, so walks were never too long and as she got a bit older her days were a blissful round of sleeping in a sunny spot or following Lady Poppy about the kitchen hoping something tasty would fall on the floor. The Monkey loved her to bits and Jackie would happily sit and be fussed over for a bit, making happy noises when her ears were scratched just so (she never did that for anyone else). When Monkey went off to uni last year Jackie spent several days wandering round the house looking for her.
Alas her bowels were not so great after a while and it was a complication in this area that lead us to make the horrible decision on Thursday last week. I came home from work at lunchtime and we headed off to the vet far too early. Sitting on the tailgate of the car for the last 30 minutes, just the three of us, watching the world go by and the other animals coming and going in the vet's car park was really peaceful. She enjoyed the fuss and different smells and just about managed to walk in under her own steam when it was time.
It's taken me three days to write this as it's been a bit of an emotional time here at Trev Towers. Plus the Monkey has been in China on a geography field trip and we wanted to speak to her first.
So long old thing. It was a pleasure to love and look after you in your second life and you will be missed more than you realise.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3934/33232006224_0709e3abcf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/SCAHEy)Jackie (https://flic.kr/p/SCAHEy) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2897/34033880606_a09eb4a8a0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TRswYW)Jackie (https://flic.kr/p/TRswYW) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr