She was 12 years old just last week, which is quite old for a Cocker Spaniel, but she has been quite ill on and off for about a year. She has been seriously ill over the last few month with pancreas infections and back problems. On Friday night she had a major fit, after which she was obviously either weak or in pain. So yesterday my parents took the decision to put her to sleep to end her suffering.

I stopped by on Saturday on my way to Aberystwyth to pick up Mandy and she was lying on a blanket in the living room. Normally when someone knocks on the door she does what every dog does and starts barking. This time she didn’t even get up, so I knew she was sick. She did manage to wag her tail though. On Sunday, when I was coming back the other way we all stopped by again and she was no better. Her breathing was quite quick so she was obviously in distress. I think my parents made the best decision. Her quality of life was at an all time low.

We have had her since she was a puppy and I spent many years living at home growing up with her. She was daft as a box of frogs and very intelligent. You spot intelligence in dogs by seeing if they use their paws to grab at stuff that is out of reach. She would try this for a bit before nudging one of us to get it for her.

One thing that Candy would not do (despite much training) was fetch anything. I think I managed to get her to do it once, but I’m sure that was just because she walked my way and happened to have the ball with her. Being almost totally motivated by food (you never saw such enthuthiasm) she would run after whatever you threw just to see if it was edible. When you dropped any food in our house it wouldn’t even hit the floor. Everytime we had chicken she would sit in the kitchen for hours waiting for some little scraps.

Here are some pictures.

Hi!

Did someone drop some food?

zzzzz…

Do you have any food for me?

Give me back my basket!

I’ll miss her. She was more a member of the family than a pet. She was my little mate and the household food vacuum cleaner.

He has done everything he could to promote the environment, and I think it fitting that he died doing what he loved best, it just shows how dedicated he was to life on Earth. He is the sort of person who grabbed life by the horns and wrestled it to the ground. He had an amazing energy and enthusiasm for everything that was quite clear from watching him on screen. I remember seeing him on Graham Norton, where he was asked to catch an inflatable crocodile in a little paddling pool full of water. Steve rolled around in the pool and came out wet from head to foot, carrying said crocodile under his arm.

As well as the enthusiasm Steve also had a great knowlege of animals, and could easily talk about almost anything that he stumbled across in his adventures.

Now I think about it I am actually suprised that he was killed in this way because of the respect he has for dangerous animals. I know he used to play with poisonous snakes and the like, but he always kept them at arms length, glancing at the camera every few seconds in order to make the film. I don’t think he would have put himself in danger intentionally.

My thoughts go to his wife (who was also an environmentalist) and two children.