Maybe once, or if you are supremely lucky, twice in your life, you may be fortunate enough to have a very special dog to call yours.

Whether that precious baby is a smart, brave or funny, they will in some way enhance your life.

Last week, I lost that dog.  My precious boy.  He was 12.5 years old and went from being a bouncy, noisy boy, demanding his breakfast, to passing away 2 hours later from suspected heart failure.

To say I was shocked, is an understatement.  Devastated definitely.

As the adoptive Mum of recycled, elderly pets, you know that you will never have enough time, but as we have a nearly 15 year old, we didn’t expect our boy to be next out the door.

He’d been a huge part of our lives for the last 10 years, coming from a family who were about to go overseas and couldn’t take him.  A sweet boy definitely, one of the most loveable dogs I’ve ever met.  He never met someone he didn’t like and the feeling was mutual.

Also possibly one of the naughtiest dogs ever.  Never one to miss a chance to steal food, wee on the furniture and answer back when told off by “grumbling”.  Never could we get him to wee outside if there was the slightest hint of rain.  Coining the phrase “harder than squeezing pee out of a sausage dog”.

But he was always the first to want a cuddle, lay upside down in your lap or just quietly warm your feet.  There were endless wet nose “kisses” for those he loved.

When we got him, we weren’t told of the food allergies or his pedigree.  We were given his name and approximate age and basically left holding him at the airport.  But he became an instant part of our lives.  How could they just walk away from him?

I was always in fear that he’d get his nose on a scent and disappear or be snatched by someone, or even just wander off with someone that spoke nicely to him.  But I never dreamed his heart would give out, his heart was the largest part of him.

He wasn’t a big dog, barely 8kg but the space he’s left in our hearts and home is immessureable.  He was the noisy one, the guard dog protecting his pack.  The excited one when “grandma” turned up – with that special excited “grandma” bark.  The always upside-down dog.

But when your time is up, its up.

And barely a week later, we have adopted a rescue.  Perhaps he went because she needed us.  Right now, we need her too.  To take our minds off our loss and take the focus off our grief.

To Hugo – with love.  My precious baby.  Always in our hearts.