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RIP Minnie
Recently my dog Minnie died at home after a short illness. It’s taken me over a week to begin composing this message because her death has hit me (and my husband Martin) so hard. Minnie lived with us for just over a decade and we thought we had another 2-6 years together. Perhaps people are surprised that I didn’t immediately share the news to social media, but I was too raw to discuss it, and grief for me has a private dimension. Instead I informed close friends and family, and went about all the sad duties that fall upon you when a pet dies – including deciding how to dispose…
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dogs and shoes
When I was in Dublin this week I was fortunate to stay with Lynda Rucker, and her housemates Liz and Charlotte. Liz has a fabulous dog called Coco who is a sweetheart. As I’ve mentioned before my dog Minnie is not one for PDAs, but Coco is a total extrovert with her affection. I couldn’t resist taking a snap of her with my mobile phone. Minnie gave me a glad welcome when I arrived home, and a proper sniffing. I wonder if she was thinking ‘The cheek of her! Spending time with another mutt.’ I snuck into a few shops in Dublin, and spotted this incredible Lady Gaga-esque pair of…
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Minnie photobomb
My dog Minnie doesn’t like being photographed. Mainly I take to take images of her when she’s not looking – when she’s occupied sniffing at something in the woods she doesn’t care if I snap some images of her. Otherwise I have to pester her to get a good shot. Yesterday I was delighted to see bluebells in a spot in my local woods where I’ve never seen them grow before. I stopped to take some photos and Minnie sat further up the hill and got into the shot. Minnie gets very impatient when I pause to take photos on our walks together. After all, in her opinion it’s a…
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making friends
This is a picture of Mr. Barky and Minnie, which I snapped today after they became friends in my local woods. I don’t know the name of the dog, but that’s what I’m calling him, after his method of introduction when he spotted us. Dogs are pretty easy to understand if you take the time to learn to read their body language, and remember that they normally strive for harmony. They want everyone to get on, and preferably to live together in a large, affable, smelly pack and to run about, play, sleep and gnaw the odd bone. This is not to say that they don’t grump at each other…
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animal companion
That’s a picture of me and my dog Minnie on our daily morning walk – well, our shadows anyway. I’ve often pondered the strangeness of sharing your home with a creature from another species, with whom you have limited communication and a vastly different set of behaviours. Yet, the bond that develops is deep and steadfast – at least for me. I’m never under any illusions that Minnie is anything but a dog. She doesn’t think the way I do and has a simple system of priorities: Food Walks Play Sleep These are all perfectly reasonable demands in the Minnie universe, and she gets quite perplexed if they don’t occur…