Sweet Dream Baby

(Picture by Richard Huckvale)

Well, this is certainly not the blog I had in mind when I started writing last night & It's certainly not a blog I ever wanted to write, but I am going to brave the tears and write about my baby, my best friend. I have come to a public place to try and refrain from balling my eyes out so bare with me.
I got this beautiful lady when I was 16, My girlfriend at the time had a couple of dogs that had puppies and I just had to have one. We had lost our first family dog a few years before Bella she was a beaut, she looked like a big cuddly fox. Sadly she got hit by a car and broke her leg, She was never the same and her leg never got better so she left us.

I remember bringing Tia home to ask my mum if I could have her as she was free, My mum said no and as a typical stroppy teenager I threw my toys out of the pram (year I still refused to walk at 16) at the time I just thought my mum was being an arse but I know she probably didn't want to go through this pain and loss again.

Tia was a tiny ball of fluff when I get her, I remember walking round to my Grandma Milly's the first day I had her to get some news papers to put down on the floor, she was too small to walk the distance so I carried her in my jacket. The first night I slept downstairs with her in the hall way so she was not alone. We never allowed our dogs upstairs in our houses, It was mums rule although I did wish Tia could have slept with me in my room. This was 16 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. Tia instantly became family, she was lovable, cute, kind, friendly she didn't have a nasty bone in her body, she was fantastic around kids. She knew when to protect the house though and she took no shit even though she was tiny.

After what happened with Bella we decided Tia was not going to be allowed out the garden, only for walks but for some reason ever since she was a puppy she would never go out of the front gate, not even with someone she would start shaking and run back inside. Maybe she knew or could feel how we felt about losing Bella but either way I was not going to put my dog through unnecessary stress so she just never went out of the garden.

She was the happiest dog in the world and she was loved by everyone who met her. She was just so lovable and cute. (The sitting in a public place to refrain from balling has failed sat here wiping away tears after every word I type)

The picture above was take almost 3 years ago, this was before she started getting really old, She was still a happy dog and still got by but we could all see she was getting old and tired. Before I went on the road I did suggest taking her to a vets and having her put to sleep, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that was wrong, yes she was old but she was not in any pain or discomfort and I knew that was not the way she wanted to go, I knew she would want to go out right where she belonged at home, our home, her home where she has lived her entire life.

The house will not be the same without you Tia, although you will always be there and you will always be with me. Mum and my uncle Jason buried her yesterday in our back garden so she will forever do what she loved doing chilling in the back garden in the sun.

Sleep well Tia, I love you and I will miss you forever. This has cut me up pretty bad but I know your have gone being loved everyday by every one of us.

TIA HUCKVALE 2000 - 2016 RIP BABY GIRL I LOVE YOU