She came with us to North Devon as a puppy in 2002, she would have been 14 later this year.
Cookie was a Samoyed - The Samoyed is a breed of dog that takes its name from the Samoyedic peoples of Siberia. These nomadic reindeer herders bred the fluffy white dogs to help with the herding, and to pull sleds when they moved. (source Wikipedia) - who have an average lifespan of 12-13 years, so she was on the upper side of that.
Her back end was wasting away, she had lost most of her muscles in her back legs, struggled to stand, although once stood she could plod along for a walk around our fields. Despite the drugs keeping the pain away, the vet as well as ourselves decided to make the decision for her to be put to sleep. Trust me, it was a hard decision, but we are firm believers in not making the dog suffer just because it would make us feel better. She went very quickly and peacefully and I really do think that she knew what was happening and was quite glad.
She will be greatly missed as she was such a good dog, well behaved and well mannered, she was a good ratter and I think if she had been younger we could have used her to round up the llamas.
Pepper, who is 10 this year, will miss her most as he joined us as a puppy to keep her company after we lost Tasha our previous Samoyed, and he will now have to put up with being the elder of the pack and take on the responsibility of keeping the pups in place (Lladdie & Gizmo) who are now three years old & doesn't time fly.
It'll take us all a few days to figure out our new routines as we no longer have to take account of the "old girl", but I did miss her greeting this morning as I came downstairs. The other three will make sure I don't dwell too long!
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