SHELLEY
This is by far the hardest post for me to write.
Shelley my beautiful girl , it has now been 4 years since her passing , the pain and tears still come whenever I look at her photos. They say German Shepherds are a one man dog because of the loyalty to their owners , Shelley lived up to that reputation only in this case she was a one woman dog , mine! , her care and faithfulness for me never failed , she constantly watched over me her eyes following me everywhere , never off guard until she saw me seated and only then would she lay down to rest.
Below picture is of Shelley taken just two weeks before we had to have her put to sleep , as you see her eyes were still watching me even though her life was hanging in the balance and we never knew it 
She was just 9 years old when she left this earth to join our other beloved pets that had gone on before her.
I had been awoken that morning around 6.15am by Shelley jumping up at the handle of the down stairs living room door, she had tried to open the door to come and get me to let me know something was wrong. Within minutes I was downstairs horrified to see Shelley collapsed on the floor and unable to move but still speaking to me with her eyes (animal lovers will understand what I mean there) I called my husband and we phoned the emergency vet (it was an August bank holiday weekend and the surgery wasn't open ) The vet told us to meet her at the veterinary practice. My husband carried Shelley from the car into the surgery , she was scanned , the vet found she was bleeding internally , it emerged Shelley had cancer of the liver , the cancer had grown so large it had caused her liver to rupture. The vet held out no hope and we knew for our faithful friends sake we couldn't let her suffer , she was put to sleep at the surgery , It's so sad to say that was the last kindness we could do for her . There had been no time to say good bye , it was all so sudden , she seemed to have been her usual self only the day before , the vet said that is how it normally is with animals suffering with liver cancer , very often there is no indication that any thing is wrong until the liver ruptures.
Shelley was buried in her favourite spot of the garden , just behind the fish pond , here you would often find her lying down but always alert as she gazed protectively over her property.
LADY
This is Lady (Lady by name and Lady by nature) she is another one of the many beloved pets we have had over the years.
We got Lady from a rescue centre that specialized in re homing this particular breed (Old English Sheepdog) Lady was around 5 and a half years old when we got her , she had come from a home where the couple were divorcing (we hear so much how divorce affects families but have you stopped to think how it effects the pets of that home also?) Lady had obviously been loved and well cared for, now all of a sudden she found herself removed from the only home she had ever known , any one who has owned this breed will tell you how loving they are, she must have been very distressed at leaving the family she loved.
Lady enjoyed her life with us, she lived life to the full, don't be fooled by how white her coat looks , she loved nothing better than going for long walks and splashing through muddy puddles.
Sadly we only had Lady for 2 years, she must have had cancer already when we got her. She had several operations to remove the tumor but it kept growing back , she was on such strong pain killers they would make her physically sick , so for her sake we knew we had to make the painful decision to have her put to sleep as she no longer had quality of life , she remained the gentle graceful lady she always had been right up until the end.
I am happy for Lady that she ended her days here on earth with a family she loved and who very much loved her.
PEPSI
This is Pepsi our miniature Yorkshire terrier He lived to the ripe old age of 14 years, what a character he was 
he would have a go at any thing . The photo was taken in 1989 , Pepsi was approx 10 years old at the time. If any one was visiting the house 
that he didn't know then he would hide behind a piece of furniture 
until they were leaving then rush out 
when their back was towards him, jump up, and swing off the back of their coat! 
Not funny at the time but thinking about it now it makes me giggle as they would still be wearing Pepsi as they were going through the front door to leave 
Bessie
This is Bessie , we got her just after my husband and I got married (no wonder the picture looks so old lol).
Tongue out that would be just right for her she loved her belly , no food was safe around her. One incident in particular that sticks in my mind was the time my mam made a Christmas chocolate log complete with robin 
no not that
type , this one 
mam thought she had put it safe! and well out of the way of Bessie who was in another room , But no one saw Bessie sneakly leave the room.
What followed was a pitiful sight all that remained of mams chocolate log was an
upside down robin! 
TOTSIE
Totsie came into our lives at our youngest daughters 
birthday party , he was a birthday gift from a friend of our little girl. I remember the day well , the children were having a wonderful time, the party was in full swing, when , there was a knock at the door as another of my daughters friends arrived. Mam! said my daughter , look at what Ceri has given me as a birthday gift. I turned around to see my little girl hanging on for all she was worth to a pretty looking ginger kitten 
Of course you get the "oh mam isn't he lovely can I keep him pleeeeeease?". If only I had known then what we were taking on , at this time we already had Pepsi (post above) and of course I saw this image in my mind 
but oh no! I couldn't have been more wrong!
Talk about a Tiger! 
but not like that one above more like this one below
ooooo he was nasty. Totsie that was his name , it's the name our 7 year old daughter chose for him so we couldn't change it, however! the names that more readly come to mind are Bengal! and Tiger!, It turned out the little girl who gave the kitten to our daughter had found him (I think it was half wild , what do they call them ferral cats?) and seeing as she wasn't allowed to keep him herself she decided he would make a nice birthday present.
Well pepsi and Totsie hit it off , literally , things flew every where, there wasn't a lot of difference in their size at this time and they would literally roll around the floor scrapping just like one of those
Tom and Jerry cartoons
They did eventually learn to tolerate each other .
What is it they say "you never own a cat!" how true ,Totsie decided to pack his bags one day and move out (what a cheek! , even if it was only 5 doors away) .
I must admit it was a relief , the couple who took him in were middle aged , no children who absolutely loved cats , I was happy for him (and for me lol) sadly the lady became ill and asked would we take Totsie back , of course we did , after all I thought! he must have melowed with age , bless him he had slightly! .
Not long after Totsie came back home to live we moved , while crossing a road one day in an area new to him sadly Totsie was knocked down and killed .
MOBY
Moby is the large brown fish in the photo.
We had her for at least 13 years and if a fish can be described as having a character then she had one 
. Shes the only fish I knew that liked to sunbathe , honestly , in the Summer time she would poke the top of her head just above the surface of the water and bask in the sunshine, several times she ended up with a blister on her head where she got sunburnt.
