If you're not a dog lover, this page won't be your cup of tea (so to speak). If you are, you'll probably know where I'm coming from.

A long time ago I remember reading or hearing that the worst thing about owning a dog is that they die. And mine just did. Unfortunately she didn't die in her sleep. I had to make that awful decision to have her put down - less than 48 hours ago as I write this. We'd known for some time that that fateful day was drawing closer, but that didn't make it any easier when it did arrive.

We got Kelly when she was just a few weeks old and she lived with us for almost 14½ years (basically ever since we've been in Tawa), a long time for a Labrador X. And as I work mostly from home, she has been with me as a constant companion all those years. It goes without saying that I will miss her - immensely.

Up until the last year or two when she really did start showing her age, she used to love walks (our longest was from Wellington railway station via Wadestown, along the back roads and out to Tawa), chasing cats, retrieving the tennis ball up at the park, swimming in the river or the sea, food (what Lab doesn't?), and she never tired of human company. I was really quite fond of her.

I'll finish with a quote I read a while back. It is rather applicable:

     "She is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
     You are her life, her love, her leader.
     She will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of her heart.
     You owe it to her to be worthy of such devotion."

I like to think I was.

This is my tribute to Kelly. I will never forget her.

- Malcolm Sparrow

[Click on pics to enlarge].

Pics in 2011  -  Pics in 2010 & earlier