Farewell to Gordon MacDonald

Farewell To Gordon MacDonald

How do you say goodbye to your best mate?  Someone you have spent the last eight years hanging out with every day on the hill come rain or shine or on the sofa, in the kitchen, first thing in the morning and last thing at night?  It’s hard, that’s how, but last month I had to say goodbye to Mac, who had reached his three score years and ten.

 When your dog dies, the whole family feels it and you can imagine that the Mac shaped hole in our lives is a pretty big one.  We all miss him every day but me especially, as I work from home and spent the most time with him.  I was Mac’s person, the one he liked to be with most of all and for him, as long as I was there the world was alright.  I’m glad I could be there for him at the end and I know that this made it easier for him.  I was there to hold his paw, so to speak, when his moment came to leave this world.

In honour of  his passing I thought I would let you know why we all loved him so much.  It’s a very personal tribute, but I hope it will help those of you who have recently lost a canine pal of your own.

 Those ears:  didn’t always do what you wanted, but boy were they cute!

That nose:  always leading the way.

 Those eyes:  got me every time.

 Those paws – they smelt great !

 You could make a bad day at school a whole lot better.

 You knew how to have fun with your pals.

You could play a great game of hide and seek.

You were King of the Hill.

.But you sure knew how to chill!

Most of all you were my special guy 

Farewell to you Gordon MacDonald, dog of my heart.

 May the wind be always at your back.

Getting Older

Hey there Longdog lovers.  I thought I would just put up a quick post to let you know how the dogs are getting along as they both come up to their eighth birthdays. 

I found this photo of me and Kizzy the day after we brought her home and you can see that she is giving the camera that 'butter wouldn't melt look' but in reality she was a little devil who  nearly drove me to despair!  With patience and a lot of training however, she has turned out to be the most wonderful dog - biddable, outgoing and fun to be with.  

I couldn't find a photo of Mac when he was really small because he never was....really small that is! But here he is at about six months old - before he got his ruff and was totally smooth coated.  He's always been a big gentle giant and a bit shy but easy to love inspite of his need to steal food and sleep on my clothes.

The next two photo's are the latest I have of the dogs.  I think they are looking real fine!  Mac is slowing down a bit but thats usual for his age.  Sometimes he doesn't want to got to far and although this makes me a bit sad, I have come to accept that he is getting older and might not feel like a five mile hike every day.  Kizzy on the other hand, is always up for it and would walk to the ends of the earth if I asked her to.

Here we are together - getting older and hopefully wiser.  Long may the walks continue!

Hello Snow!

Its been raining hard and blowing a gale for so long that it was actually quite nice to have some snow!  The longdogs obviously thought so as well because got very bouncy with excitement as soon as their toes hit the floor and spent their morning racing round trying to find stuff to chase, and ended up chasing each other.