FAREWELL BEN

His Favorite Sun Trap
He came to us in the summer of 1995, a vagabond and a stray who was discovered 'abandoned' in Cambridge! That was all that they told us, 'they' being the dogs home in Royston, they also informed us that they thought he was about six years old. It was pure guesswork, of course, and with so very little to go on, his early life would always be a mystery.


He approached us, us being Fiona and myself, tail wagging and in a very confident and friendly manner. I studied him carefully and my thoughts were that he had obviously not been ill treated in any way. I guessed that he might have just got out and got himself lost, and I wondered who out there might be missing him! For my first impression was 'what a lovely, friendly little fellow he was.' He had the colour markings of a corgi and he looked just like a rather thick set Jack Russell, we suspected that our summing up of his parentage was about right!

The first vet we took him to thought he was five years old, in the end we settled on a vet in the next town and they told us that he was seven. We decided to go for the mean differance and considered him to be six years old when he joined our family. That first night, after I had taken him for his last walk and put him to bed, I did wonder what I would come down to in the kitchen in the morning. I needn't have worried! He hadn't chewed anything, made a mess or barked once during his first night. In fact he had settled in and made himself right at home. He had the sweetest and friendliest manner and bearing that you could wish for and never caused us any trouble in all the eleven years that he shared our lives.

During his last year with us he began to slow up and limp and his eyesight began to deteriate. But at the grand old age of fifteen, he still managed to walk all the way up and down the Malvern Hills with Sarah and myself, on a lovely spring day during a visit to Tewkesbury. In the end, as he reached his seventeenth year, we had to help him on his way. A bitter sad day that was! And I don't mind admitting to shedding a few tears, we all did!

 

He lies beneath the Rose Tree

Bens Grave under the Japanese Maple

 

My Favorite Photo of Him

It's true what they say about animals and children. You bestow love and affection on them and they repay it tenfold! I know Ben did and we all miss him terribly. Rest in peace old chap, there won't be another one like you!