It's taken me 2.5 weeks to sit down and write this.
Dear Harry,
I still remember the first time I heard about you, I was out at the ag show with my friends and mum called me. "I've got a new dog" I was excited for her, I loved the idea of a puppy. I was surprised to hear you were a cattledog, Mum had had a lot of cattledogs over her life and her next dog was always "not going to be a cattle dog, and not going to be a boy"
But that night when she went to look at the puppies due to be shot the next day, going to meet them and then ask around to see if she could find them a home she said she met your eyes and you just said "yep, I'm yours.Take me home"
Mum isn't a bleeding heart and she'd been offered a few pups over the years that were just her type of dog but you stole her heart the first time you looked at her. You were a great lump of a blue 4 month old boy and you were hers. I still remember the first night at home, you just sat under her chair. You didn't want to talk to me, my sister or any of the other dogs. You just wanted to sit with her. When you did venture away you'd stress and start humping the air, it was hilarious.
She took you everywhere, socialised you extensivly, never let you have a negative experience. She introduced you to lots of people that you weren't interested in even looking at. They wern't anything to do with you.
You came to us with blood in your urine, knowing the home you came from we wonder if you'd had a tortured beginning, too much damage for us to undo.
We watched you grow, waited for you get tall and heavy and impressive. You got heavy but your legs were a bit short, your neck was a bit long and your tail was twice the length of the rest of you, your teddy bear face distracted from the fact that your loose skin created wings when you ran and you kinda resembled a blue seal with legs.
At a year old we noticed you being sore in teh hind legs after a run, we were worried about paralysis ticks as we'd just moved to the area and when we took you in she said you felt like you had HD. We had you xrayed a couple of months later, 12 months old with severe HD. Not fair.
I know we had issues and byt hte time you were 4 you only had Sophie left, when she passed on you were alone but Elliot the cat had allt he time in the world for you when he had to start avoiding a rambuctious puppy.
I have so many great memories of you that I will treasure forever, the way you would run at me, knock me down, lie on my chest and hold me around the neck with your mouth, the more I laughed the more your stupid tail wagged. How you lie on my feet to keep warm, lick at the air when we scratched the right spot, the way you would run, like it was the most important thing when we called your name.
The intensity youd get when waiting for your food, practically shaking. The baloon game where we would bounce them at you to bounce back at us. Playing chase where we would just run like buggery and see how fast you'd go.
How when you were really happy you would frolic along snatching up chunks of grass with joy, and then throw yourself ina summersault onto the ground.
I havn't seen a dog so comical as you, you knew humour. You knew you were funny.
You had a protectice streak a mile wide, you were very much a cattledog. I wish more people had got to see the real you, they would have known why it was so hard to say goodbye earlier when we probably should have.
Now I'm just sorry. Sorry I wasn't fast enough, sorry we didn't build a back fence, sorry we didn't do more earlier, sorry we didn't send you on sooner when we could have given you a week of being spoilt. I'm sorry you were getting worse, I wish you wern't scared of the horses, the paddocks or anywhere outside the yard, other people, other dogs, I'm sorry you would have been so scared, I wish more than anything I could take that back. Please be in a better place now, we love you so much now and forever. I hope your hips are better, I hope you can run as fast as you want without pain, love handles flapping in the wind, I hope there lots of room with swim, tennis balls, baloons. I really hope you found Sophie and that she's young again and as fast and strong as she once was, you can curl up together in one bed again.
I always told mum I had always wanted to steal you away. You tried so bloody hard to always do right, you were so keen to learn and so, so smart.
Once when you were younger I remember you chased a cyclist, you got in trouble and the next morning on your walk you saw one coming along the path ahead of you, when mum called you back you looked back and thought "Why should I walk all the way back just to turn around and keep coming this way?" so you walk off the side of the path about 10m, sit down and wait for the cyclist to pass and then continue on your way, strutting along like you know how smart you are.
I am so grateful for having you in my life, you always gave the best cuddles, you just put your whole self into them. I'll always remember that.
I love you Harry, I will never forget you. I'm sorry for everything. You tried your hardest, you are a good dog!
Love Mags.
Here he is a few weeks ago, having fun playing in the floodwater down teh end of our road. He had a great day.
And these are some pics and I never posted, I took them a few months ago when mum and I took him down to the creek for a walk. Before he was scared fo the paddocks and everything. I'm so glad I have them, I think they are my favourite pics of him ever. We spent probably 90 minutes with just hime, he didn't have to removed from the other dogs, on his own, stuck on his bed or anything. He was so freakin happy.
Dear Harry,
I still remember the first time I heard about you, I was out at the ag show with my friends and mum called me. "I've got a new dog" I was excited for her, I loved the idea of a puppy. I was surprised to hear you were a cattledog, Mum had had a lot of cattledogs over her life and her next dog was always "not going to be a cattle dog, and not going to be a boy"
But that night when she went to look at the puppies due to be shot the next day, going to meet them and then ask around to see if she could find them a home she said she met your eyes and you just said "yep, I'm yours.Take me home"
Mum isn't a bleeding heart and she'd been offered a few pups over the years that were just her type of dog but you stole her heart the first time you looked at her. You were a great lump of a blue 4 month old boy and you were hers. I still remember the first night at home, you just sat under her chair. You didn't want to talk to me, my sister or any of the other dogs. You just wanted to sit with her. When you did venture away you'd stress and start humping the air, it was hilarious.
She took you everywhere, socialised you extensivly, never let you have a negative experience. She introduced you to lots of people that you weren't interested in even looking at. They wern't anything to do with you.
You came to us with blood in your urine, knowing the home you came from we wonder if you'd had a tortured beginning, too much damage for us to undo.
We watched you grow, waited for you get tall and heavy and impressive. You got heavy but your legs were a bit short, your neck was a bit long and your tail was twice the length of the rest of you, your teddy bear face distracted from the fact that your loose skin created wings when you ran and you kinda resembled a blue seal with legs.
At a year old we noticed you being sore in teh hind legs after a run, we were worried about paralysis ticks as we'd just moved to the area and when we took you in she said you felt like you had HD. We had you xrayed a couple of months later, 12 months old with severe HD. Not fair.
I know we had issues and byt hte time you were 4 you only had Sophie left, when she passed on you were alone but Elliot the cat had allt he time in the world for you when he had to start avoiding a rambuctious puppy.
I have so many great memories of you that I will treasure forever, the way you would run at me, knock me down, lie on my chest and hold me around the neck with your mouth, the more I laughed the more your stupid tail wagged. How you lie on my feet to keep warm, lick at the air when we scratched the right spot, the way you would run, like it was the most important thing when we called your name.
The intensity youd get when waiting for your food, practically shaking. The baloon game where we would bounce them at you to bounce back at us. Playing chase where we would just run like buggery and see how fast you'd go.
How when you were really happy you would frolic along snatching up chunks of grass with joy, and then throw yourself ina summersault onto the ground.
I havn't seen a dog so comical as you, you knew humour. You knew you were funny.
You had a protectice streak a mile wide, you were very much a cattledog. I wish more people had got to see the real you, they would have known why it was so hard to say goodbye earlier when we probably should have.
Now I'm just sorry. Sorry I wasn't fast enough, sorry we didn't build a back fence, sorry we didn't do more earlier, sorry we didn't send you on sooner when we could have given you a week of being spoilt. I'm sorry you were getting worse, I wish you wern't scared of the horses, the paddocks or anywhere outside the yard, other people, other dogs, I'm sorry you would have been so scared, I wish more than anything I could take that back. Please be in a better place now, we love you so much now and forever. I hope your hips are better, I hope you can run as fast as you want without pain, love handles flapping in the wind, I hope there lots of room with swim, tennis balls, baloons. I really hope you found Sophie and that she's young again and as fast and strong as she once was, you can curl up together in one bed again.
I always told mum I had always wanted to steal you away. You tried so bloody hard to always do right, you were so keen to learn and so, so smart.
Once when you were younger I remember you chased a cyclist, you got in trouble and the next morning on your walk you saw one coming along the path ahead of you, when mum called you back you looked back and thought "Why should I walk all the way back just to turn around and keep coming this way?" so you walk off the side of the path about 10m, sit down and wait for the cyclist to pass and then continue on your way, strutting along like you know how smart you are.
I am so grateful for having you in my life, you always gave the best cuddles, you just put your whole self into them. I'll always remember that.
I love you Harry, I will never forget you. I'm sorry for everything. You tried your hardest, you are a good dog!
Love Mags.
Here he is a few weeks ago, having fun playing in the floodwater down teh end of our road. He had a great day.
And these are some pics and I never posted, I took them a few months ago when mum and I took him down to the creek for a walk. Before he was scared fo the paddocks and everything. I'm so glad I have them, I think they are my favourite pics of him ever. We spent probably 90 minutes with just hime, he didn't have to removed from the other dogs, on his own, stuck on his bed or anything. He was so freakin happy.
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