RIP Cookie

Cookie, seen here last year sticking her tongue out to the world, passed away yesterday.

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!

2015 - the year of the vet!

Our vets are doing well out of us this year.

All of our domestic animals have been, the cat was bitten by a dog (not one of ours), Lladdie has been sick, Gizmo has been limping, Pepper was injured in a fight with Lladdie & Cookie, bless her  is getting old.

The farm animals have also been a bit poorly, mainly goats, in fact I'm not sure we have had a vet out to a llama yet this year, we have had one goat Jedi, put to sleep as he was in so much pain and the vet could not fix the problem. Flo, our old goat is much the same as Cookie, the kids all needed assistance arriving.

We also have 3 poorly lambs, and it makes it all the galling when you come out to feed the lambs to find one had just "died" overnight, and one of the more healthy ones. This is the second one we have lost this year and talking to vets and other sheep farmers we have just been lucky in the previous years.

Yesterday was also a bad day, as Cookie went for her quarterly check up and the vet advised that her days were numbered - she said it a bit more kindly than that, but her back end is wasting away, she has very little muscle left around her back legs and thighs and struggles occasionally to get up. The vet was astonished at the change in her in just over a month (she had a problem a month ago unrelated to her regular check ups) - as we see her daily it is difficult to the see the change as it is so gradual.

The quarterly check ups are now having to be monthly going forward because if the deterioration continues at the current pace .... the less said the better, but I am sure you get my drift.

She is 14 years old this year and as Samoyeds have an average lifespan of 7-8 years I guess she hasn't done bad!

We'll still be sad though!

A white fluffy dog and mud and poo!

Our old dog, Cookie, is a white Samoyed, seen here licking her lips!

She's a bit old now and her regular trip to the groomers have been halted as she cannot stand for the required length of time to be blow dried and clipped, so today she is looking a bit moth eaten as we have had a go ourselves.

The groomers used to clip her belly, as she gets such thick fur it never dried out, if left unclipped it not only gets wet it gets dirty too. She does like to walk amid, and sample the various animal poo piles that are around and she does get rather smellie.

So last night, at various intervals so she didn't get worn out, we trimmed her bum area, her belly area and her legs that were all getting a bit mucky with the wet weather and gave her a good brushing. She'll get a days rest and we'll finish her off over the weekend, she already looks a lot happier for our efforts. It was two handed job as she wriggled a lot!

Still, it'll be easier next time as long as we keep on top of it!