A Celebration of a Dog's Life

A short little post about our Whisper's last weeks, which may help one or two other people.

Emma and puppy training

Nicola and sleepy puppy

He did love a boat trip

Snow, snow balls, misbehaving - happy boy!

We knew Whisper was getting old - he was 12, with arthritis especially in the lower back and back legs, and he was pretty much completely deaf. We'd adapted to that. He was still the adorable border collie he always was.

Water therapy helped get those back legs working again

But then, just a month ago, he seemed a bit constipated. This went on for longer than we thought right so that's when we took him to the vet. Bells seemed to start ringing, and after a thorough examination, prostate cancer was diagnosed, high dosage pain killers administered, and guidance given on the palliative care that would be needed. 

Canine prostate cancer is rare, but sadly it seems to be very aggressive with no cure. It quickly spread through the spine and into the chest. We did our best to listen to Whisper, and he let us know when he'd had enough. He was still enjoying his food to the end, and even his walks.

On Sunday he was unable to settle down - just pacing the house. So I put him on a large soft cushion and sat with him all afternoon - he settled, his breathing settled, and we spent the time together. I did the same overnight, putting him on the bed. His ribs and all his under carriage were so sore that it seemed to hurt him to lie down. Hence the big cushion and the bed. Eventually he slept peacefully and soundly for about 3 hours, with his head and paw resting on me.

The following morning, yesterday, we took him to the vets. He's now buried in the garden near to the rabbit and I will be planting wild speedwell over his grave - these were the flowers in bloom in the woods on Sunday when he had a very short but peaceful last walk.

I don't know if the symptoms are typical of canine prostate cancer, but if sharing this story helps even just one person, then I'm glad to share. 

So, dry your tears and hear the good news - as a celebration of Whisper's life we will be donating 20% from all sales from our Border Collie page to The Animal Health Trust charity in Newmarket. It's an amazing animal charity - find out more about them here. Over the next few weeks we will be trying to add more collie designs and products so do check this page out from time to time. 

And we're just working out how to put a Donate to Charity button on our website, for those of you who may support our cause but don't particularly want border collie products. 

Border Collie Whisper Makes a Difference

You may have noticed a new page on our website dedicated to our border collie products. This is because, sadly, our lovely collie Whisper has been diagnosed with a tumour with no chance of recovery. 

Whisper has been just the best border collie a girl could have wished for - the kindest, the most amusing, the most loyal, the most annoying... So for that reason, we have decided to donate 20% from the sale of any of our border collie products to The Animal Health Trust. The Animal Health Trust is a charity based in Newmarket that works to fight against injuries and diseases in animals. They’ve had numerous success stories - you can read some of them here - and do amazing work. They also serve a very good tea and cake!

Whisper was loved by everyone in the Lindop house and everyone at Penny Lindop Designs, even if he did get in the way and make a general nuisance of himself on occasions! We’ve had him since he was a small and fluffy puppy.

I used to take him to dog training (not sure how successful that was!) where he seemed to spend a great deal of time cleaning out the ears of a huge German Shepherd dog! We also tried our hand at agility – we even won a couple of rosettes! Although I think Whisper mostly just did as he pleased.

Evidence of this also exists when you take a look around our garden; firstly there’s Whisper’s very own secret den underneath an old tree trunk. He dug this all by himself, it took him quite a while, but he looked very proud of the finished result. 

 

There’s also a potato plant in one of our flower beds; Whisper had a habit of stealing potatoes from the kitchen; they’d often turn up around the house or in his bed, but this one ended up sprouting!

He loved a stick or a ball and he loved the seaside

These are just some of the many memories that we have of our lovely boy, and we’ll never forget him. We shall give him the best that we can for this last part of his life.

We’re sure many of you have dogs or pets that you feel the same way about, so any support for the Animal Health Trust would be very welcome and greatly appreciated. You can buy our products here, or if you’d just like to give a donation to The Animal Health Trust, you can do this here.

It would be great if you could spread the word of what we are doing...

Thanks

Emma