Remembering Sweetie

Today I have been remembering Sweetie, the first dog we adopted as an “oldie” and the inspiration behind me deciding to get involved with Oldies Club.

Sweetie was straying before she was picked up and held in a stray kennels for a few weeks, so she was adopted without history. We think she was around 12-13 years when she came to us. She was an old lady looking for a place to rest her head for however long she had left – and to be honest, when she first came to us, I don’t think anyone thought that would be for very long.

In the end we had three wonderful years and months with her, which was probably about three years longer than first expected. She came from “up north” but a rescue volunteer very kindly drove her down to Wales – coincidentally the same town that Jasper came from. I went on the train to bring her home as we didn’t have a car back then. I did get a few stares on the train on the way back as she wasn’t in the greatest of condition after what she’d been through. I’ll be forever grateful to the smartly dressed businessman who asked me about her, rather than just looking, and gave me the chance to explain that I’d literally just met her and was taking her home to her new life.

My husband chose the name Sweetie for her and it suited her. She was a sweet old lady who I’m sure would have been quite a character in her youth. We have no idea of her history but I have always felt she belonged to someone nice at some point. She didn’t have any fears – other than the camera, unfortunately. That would send her into a bit of a panic so photos were taken when she was unaware/from a distance. I think she would have had a decent life for most of it, I suspect sadly that something happened to her (elderly?) owner and Sweetie then ended up on the streetsThis is just a feeling on my part, but I hope if it is the case that her previous owner knew she ended up being loved again and taken care of.

Since Sweetie disliked the camera, I don’t have many great photographs of herHowever this is one of my favourites. We had always hoped to take her on holiday and to the beach in particular and one year we booked a holiday in Wales, staying in a house on a dog-friendly farm. We took her to the beach, along with our other dogs.

I will treasure this photo of Sweetie and my husband, going for a paddle, for all time. Sweetie, we miss you. We think you’d approve of Jasper.