TRIBUTE TO DARIA
I recently lost my dog Dar (Daria), when she was attacked and killed by another dog, on her morning walk. My partner, Darren was with her while I was giving our little girl Daisy breakfast.
Dar was nearly 14 years old and had been with me since she was approximately 10 weeks old. I am having the owners prosecuted but to lose my best friend in this way has made me numb, empty. I feel very lonely without her. I’ll never forget carrying her body home through the rain and sitting with her, for what seemed like hours, on the kitchen floor, wishing she would come back to me.
If it wasn’t for Darren and Daisy, I wouldn’t want to bother carrying on.
I’m just going through the motions at the moment. I’m numb.
When I’m on my own is when I feel it most.
In 2000, February 7th, I lost my other dog Murphy – 6½ years old – lurcher – to cancer. That was devastating, but at least I could grieve then.
This is almost too much to bear. I feel guilty, I think, because I wasn’t there to protect her when she needed me. I don’t know how to deal with that.
The way she died is unbearable. I won’t speak about it to anyone. Everyone knows how close we were and they’ve been very kind.
I took her to Ashes Crematorium near Thirsk, and picked up her little wooden casket with plaque, a few days later.
We used to walk everywhere together, especially before Daisy was born (17th April 2003), – in the Dales, Lake District, the beautiful walks in the countryside around where we live.
She was so fit and healthy for her age.
I miss her so much.
Beccy Hayden
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ANIMAL BLESSING SERVICE
Sunday 3 October 2004
All Saints Church
Wokingham, Berkshire
at 3pm
All people and all creatures welcome
Refreshments afterwards
at
The Cornerstone
(next to the church)
This service is part of Animal Welfare Sunday
which takes place annually
on the first Sunday in October
as near as possible to St Francis Day
which falls on 4th October
For more information about the service,
directions and a town plan,
contact:
Marcelle Williams
Tel: 0118 978 9782
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IN LOVING MEMORY OF HASSAN
I loved my handsome Turkish cat
Now taken from this life,
He’s gone to that far better place
Away from earthly strife.
Each night he came to bed with me
Beneath the duvet crept
And cuddled close with kneading paws
Then through the night we slept.
Grand International Premier he
Had qualified to be,
And at his last show gained his first
Towards C.A.P.E.*
Snow white and auburn was his coat
And one round spot he bore
Thumb print of Allah said to be,
From ancient Turkish lore.
But love lives on and in my heart
I’ll keep my Turkish Van,
Until we meet again I’ll say:
“Goodbye, my dear Hassan”.
Marcelle Williams
*C.A.P.E. stands for “Certificat d’Aptitude Premier of Europe”, the top title for cats judged by international judges.
Hassan was run over six years ago, at age 4, not crossing the road, but having just jumped down from the wall. As he landed a taxi came round the bend and ran over him. He was very careful crossing the road but in this case he hadn’t even started to cross. It was opposite the gate and there is no pavement.
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YOUR LETTERS *!
Dear departed friend
I have been an avid but silent reader of your enjoyable news letters for some time now and have not gained the confidence to write in until now. I will start by telling you about a very dear friend who was a constant source of companionship to me and, over time, it appeared that she may have developed the same devotion to me as I had had towards her. She seemed to sense my every emotion and rejoiced and comforted me on every occasion; in part she was like a child I was yet to give birth to and I still miss her some five years on.
I thought that if I had found another pet (in the form of two infant cats) that I may replace her affections in some way and, although I love my new companions tenderly, they seem to seek more comfort in each other than in my company .
It has become most apparent to me that cats, like humans, have a soul and personality just like ours.
Now I am going through a difficult time personally, I often think of Be-be and how she may have reacted to my mood swings and tearfulness. She was as white as snow and had the most gentle loving personality – trusting and playful, although a little old and deaf. Perhaps the latter may be called defects which may have been the cause of her to be run over. My only regret in our relationship was that I didn’t get to bury her in the loving and respectful way that she deserved and that I didn’t have the intelligence to appreciate her love more when she was alive.
At the time my partner and I were childless – not for the want of trying. My family often remarked that I should concentrate my affections upon a child. After Be-be’s death, I became pregnant and feel that my four year old child has many of Be-be’s traits. Perhaps this is wishful thinking but I like to feel that a mutual, loving relationship has developed between myself and my child.
I have yet to understand why, as human beings, we are vain and like to assert our superiority over the animal kingdom. I also feel that we all have a lot to learn from our companions. Unfortunately I fear that these lessons in friendship will not be learnt in my lifetime.
Sarata
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I’ve just read the latest issue of Departed Friend (DF14) and would like to make the following comments on the issue of dogs being put down because of alleged attacks on young children:
My dog, Sammy, was the most gentle character whilst at home with his humans and fellow pets but like many young dogs he defended what he thought of as “his”. When he was young (around 2) there was a strip of land at the back of our street where some garages were situated and, in fact, we rented one of them and Sammy was used to going over there with his “Dad” – my partner, Bob.
However one day he had just got out of our car having been at work all day with Bob when two young children suddenly ran across the strip of land in front of the garages; they were unaccompanied and were obviously not aware that the land was privately owned. Sam rushed up to the children before he could be stopped and started barking at them. Bob called him away and they both came home.
The policeman replied that they were not local and were on a day trip to visit their grandmother who lived in the road behind ours. At this Bob became almost incoherent with rage and asked why they had been allowed out unsupervised in a relatively strange area and pointed out that at the time of the alleged incident they had been trespassing on private property.
I intervened and asked the policeman to bring the grandmother (who had made the complaint) round to see us so that we could discuss what had really happened whilst the policeman was present. His reply was astonishing – he said that he was not prepared to do that or to let us see the alleged “bite” mark and that he would be round again later that evening to tell us whether or not the woman intended to press charges.
- I told a friend of mine who lived opposite and within half an hour several people had knocked on our door to offer their support in giving Sammy glowing “character references” & one neighbour said she was going to start a petition if charges were brought.
- They also reminded her of the fact that a year previously Bob had had a serious operation to remove a cancerous tumour in his kidney & that shortly after that Sammy’s mother, Susie, had died as a result of a drunken driver racing down our road whilst Bob Susie & Sammy were returning from an evening walk.
- I dread to think what the result of this incident might have been had we not had such great friends and neighbours.
Linda Reed
For my art project I have done the subject ‘Untimely and Unnecessary Death’. There are three items I have made; one I made from one of those 1930’s fur scarves with real fox heads on it. I found it in the textile bin at college and was going to bury it. However, I mummified them with muslin and gave them Egyptian prayer scrolls and lay them to rest on black velvet; it was about how the Egyptians revered their dead and honoured them, animals too – but also an anti-fur statement and about killing for fashion and now finally they had a decent burial. After our exhibition I am not sure what to do with them, whether to bury them or what.
I also made an embroidered book on Chidiok Tichborne’s elegy. Tichborne was a young Catholic persecuted at the time of Elizabeth the 1st and ended up getting sucked into the Babbington plot. He was hung, drawn and quartered for it and wrote a terribly sad and moving poem to his wife the night before he died; this was about life cut short, in wars or because of execution.
The last piece was a mummified broken doll laying on a background of pictures of child war victims, about children killed in wars.
I enjoy making art that gives out a strong message and provokes discussion.
Ali Browning
Thank you for the newsletter; it was lovely to take it all in, about the love people have for their pets when they have gone. So much love, even in the void left behind when they go. We know we will meet them again when we go. That is very reassuring.
I’m getting a memorial plaque made for all the dogs’ names on it and their photos – a fitting tribute. I got the address from last month’s DF.
Take care, God bless. Love,
Jamie Wright
Debby
Thank you very much for latest edition of DF. Enjoyed it so much, especially about Tyger.
Please accept this very small donation as appreciation of your true commitment to DF and its cause.
With love,
Filed under: No. 15 Aug '04
