Siena
2007 to 2020
On the 12th
January 2020 I had to make that hardest decision
for my old dog.
I am grateful that she had a long and healthy life,
but inevitably old age always catches up. Why oh
why do our finest companions only live such a short
time..
Siena 'so small' as she was once known(Mum used
to laugh at me 'but she's huge?!) lived for food.
If there was food available, Siena was there, barging
through anything in her way. She had no spatial
awareness!! Siena would stop at nothing for food
thats how I knew she was ailing over these last
few days as I coaxed her to eat. I did what we all
do when caring for a poorly dog, buying in every
tasty morsel possible in the hope she would eat
and all would be well again. There is now cooked
chicken, venison mince, trays of Forthglade etc
lying sadly redundant in the fridge..
Siena's gentle gaze, always watching me these last
few days and her desire to be near me was stronger
than ever.
It was Mum's Birthday yesterday, hence the double
sadness I hope she was waiting with a gravy bone
for Longface as she called her.
This morning Siena's slow feed bowl is laying still
on the side. She went though so many of them as
she would break the plastic picking them up and
dropping on the floor to get the food out quicker!
There's no me yelling steady as Siena ploughed her
42kg (so small not!!) towards the bowl stand for
dinner, completly unaware of her 'old dog' legs
or anything in her way..in fact I would always say
if I fell over enroute to the bowl stand, Siena
would very likely eat me too!
There won't be random bowls, spoons, knives, washing
up bowl etc lying around that Siena had carefully
lifted from the worktop/sink and left on the floor!
Unware of her Laryngeal paralysis, there wont be
anymore dashes to the vets for antibiotics when
she stole things as simple as a cooked parsnip which
parts of ended up in her lungs causing aspiration
pnemonia!! , Oh and the clever way she could pluck
something from an open oven,something she learnt
in later years !!
Born of two Show Champions, she wasnt a show dog
but had two beautiful litters including our biggest
litter of 13 born by C Section..Mum and I sat at
the vets as the nurses kept bringing pups for us
to revive, looking at each other thinking how many
more ?! She did a grand job with both litters, rearing
them all on her own and her love for her youngest
daughter Cuda carried on all thoughout Siena's life.
Siena likened herself to a lazy matriach, often
telling the other dogs off from her sofa as they
wandered in and out of the room! That bit we wont
miss!!
She was my old dog and things just seem so quiet
when everyone wandered in after our walk.
The loss of a pack member is always so hard. I had
no sleep two nights ago as I sat with her, stroking
her head, she nuzzled into me and I made that decision,
also hoping that the vet could work some magic and
that old dog would rally as she had done many times
over the last few weeks. But this time old age was
upon us and that wonderful old dog slipped away
peacefully with me by her side..
2007
| 2008 | 2009
| 2010 | 2011
| 2012 | 2013
| 2014 | 2015
| 2016 | 2017
| 2018 | 2019
| 2020 | 2021
| 2022
| 2023
