Ben

Ben was our lovely Golden Boy -

He came to live with us when he was 2 from Retriever Rescue and died unexpectedly when he was 6..

Ben was the most wonderful dog there could ever be

He is missed every day

Run free at the brige my boy

Love Ian & Carolyn

Sheba

This is our last golden before we got Bronson, her name was Sheba.

A brilliant dog she was to.

Sheba was our first golden unfortunate we had to let her go as the pain in her legs got to bad she was 10 years old.

Julie and Mike Bronson’s (mum and dad)

Deebur

We adopted our sweet girl Deeber through Jan Robinson at 18mths, she had already had a litter and was handed over as no longer wanted. The previous owners I believe kept some of the pups and the sire to the pups.

From the moment we saw her we fell in love with her and were elated to bring her home to be part of our family. She brought laughter and a lot of joy into our lives, she had partially eaten £30 in notes a few weeks after her arrival, this was the only time she did this we're not sure why she did as never showed any signs of chewing etc.

Deeber loved her walks and especially loved going to Dove Dale so she could swim and has spent many happy hours there. We never knew her to bark, growl or be aggressive in any way throughout her life. Visitors were always welcomed with a smile and a big wagging tail, but then she would as she thought all visitors had come to see her :o)

Had I wanted to I could have rehomed her 100's of times,

I have had dogs from being 2yrs old and am now hitting the big 60 next yr and in all that time I have never met a dog with such a big heart and sweet nature as my big girl. I know it may have been said many times about many dogs but everyone meeting her fell in love.

She learnt how to be a great help to me, she would take washing out of the machine for me. If I dropped something she would pick it up, she'd happily collect post and the remote, plodding along with a wagging tail which surprisingly never threw her off course LOL.  She was an absolute joy to be with, all she asked for was to be loved, walked and fed.

When we adopted her Jan advised her to be an only dog and we kept to that until almost 3 yrs ago. My sister was going on holiday and we offered to look after her 6mth old Dog DeBordeaux for 2 weeks. Not expecting Deeber to want anything to do with him imagine our suprise when she began to chase him around the house and garden playing. She'd always played with us but never even gave other dogs a look when we were out. They spent a great 2wks together playing and sleeping and generally keeping the builders here at the time pleasantly occupied with their antics.

After Reo went home we thought she would be happy to get back to being the centre of attention but sadly soon showed signs of missing him. we gave it a few months but she still moped around. We talked long and hard, I knew I couldn't cope with 2 large dogs as I had done yrs before so we contacted the Shih Tzu rescue we had adopted dogs from before having Deeber. They did have a young dog in looking for a home, they hit it off from the beginning and spent hrs cuddle up together, she was back to her old self. A yr later Deeber started to find it difficult to run about as arthritis had set in and she was developing heart and kidney problems. Paddington was missing his playtime with Deeber and we adopted two more Shiddies over the next few months and a couple of months ago a funny gorgeous Lhasa girl, Georgia. They all got on extremely well no quarrels just happy to share beds and cuddles.

 Although Paddington was himself getting a bit to stiff to play running around Zebedee and Megan kept up the chase with Georgia joining in when she came to us. Megan was an ex breeding bitch from a puppy farm who had been treated appallingly but from the moment she met Deeber she had found her soul mate. They adored each other and Megan would run to be with Deeber if she felt insecure. As you can see in the pic Deeber was the big cuddle Moma to her. She was fantastic with our small dogs helping to give them confidence and security and it was so wonderful to see how she would have them all around her. She was so gentle and when laying down with them would get down slowly so as not to lay on them but then they'll all end up one big furry lump.  When we took them to Dove Dale she would keep coming back to them to go into the water with her but only Megan took up the offer :o)

Sadly over the past few months her health deteriorated and it was hard to see her struggling to get up, she would wag her tail when we took out the leads but would only be able to walk a short distance before the pain took over. It had to be little and often to keep her weight from getting to much. She stopped wanting to go in the car and wasn't comfy on journeys despite a large duvet to lay on and Neil was having to lift her in and out. She became incontinent, she couldn't help it, to see her face was heart breaking it was as if she was saying I'm sorry. We wanted her last few days with us to be peaceful and be able to make them special for her. Sadly it coincided with bonfire season, she'd always been unhappy with fireworks going off, the vets gave us sedatives to help keep her calm but on 2 nights she was so afraid of the loud bangs and stressed she was hyperventalating her eyes rolling and her tongue went blue. We had to call the vet out who sedated her further, on Monday 5th November the vet said she just couldn't take anymore stress and her health problems were getting worse. We had to make the heartbreaking decision to let our sweet girl go to the bridge. We had one more night with her, we stayed with her downstairs, both Georgia and Megan wouldn't leave her side and were cuddled up to their cuddle monster

I held her in my arms as she slipped quietly away on Tuesday 6th November whispering to her to go towards the bridge and run free no more pain. Our vet is very good and both her and the nurse kept quiet and stayed out of her vision so she only saw and heard me.

It was so hard to come home without my sweet big girl, we loved her and miss her so much and it hurts.

Wherever we go in the house or car there are things to remind us of her, she was so special. Each morning when my stair lift glides downstairs she would sit at the bottom, tail wagging, face smiling and 'talking' with her front feet padding away. Now it's quiet with the little ones looking around for her. They too keep looking up when a door opens expecting her to come through it. Her lead and now her collar are hanging next to the others and I have to stop myself from picking it up with them.

Gem

'GEM'

Otherwise known as 'Puppy'. Gem really was our baby. We bought her as an eight week old puppy, and we have loved her every single day of her life. She was a faithful friend and companion and truly lived up to her name.

At the age of 13 and a half, on December 17th 07, Gem was given peace from her painful arthritis.

We have lost a very special girl and it has left us with a big hole in our lives.

Gem will be loved in our hearts forever.