pets – Pete's Blog

We have two eleven year old cairn terriers, Ziggy and Lulu. Ever since they were puppies we have loved going for walks together. We have done some pretty strenuous walks including parts of the West Highland and Southern Upland Ways. They always had so much more energy than me, running up ahead and then coming back as we walked. Unfortunately Ziggy now has multiple cancers and it has reached the stage where I can only take Lulu for walks.

Ziggy doesn’t like it. She has a strong fear of missing out, and looks at me with her big brown eyes when I leave her at the door. Lulu doesn’t like it. She shouts at me that I have forgotten her sister, and she misses her playmate on the beach. And I don’t like it. I miss my companion, with her gangling gait and “at heel” loyalty.

But even taking her down the road to the village green is becoming too much. She just needs to be at home, in the warm, mostly sleeping. It is a sad situation.

But I should celebrate that she is still with us. She was given three months to live a year and a half ago, and she still welcomes me with a wagging tail when I get her up in the morning. And when she has gone it will be even tougher for Lulu. She isn’t the sharpest of dogs and will not understand.

But for now I will make the most of my walks with Lulu, and my time with Ziggy, cuddling her and giving her sausages.

Sorry for a downbeat blog this week. I’ll get back to my usual “everything is awesome” next week.

This week we are back properly cruising the canals of the UK and have travelled down the beautiful Macclesfield Canal (the Macc) to rejoin the Trent and Mersey.

The Macc is quiet compared with the great canal & river thoroughfares such as the T&M, the Grand Union or the Thames. It has a reputation for being shallow, which is probably well deserved given closures in recent years, but this year we have had plenty of rain, and while some edges can be shallow, we did not find it too difficult to navigate. There is just one hire company and so most of our fellow boaters were either continuous cruisers like ourselves, or based in Lyme View marina, near Wilmslow.

After nearly six weeks with little movement it has been wonderful for us and the dogs to get back to what we love – pootling along and enjoying the journey. Sadly one of the reasons for our delay was vets tests for our dog Ziggy who it turns out has advanced cancer of the pancreas and bladder. There is nothing to be done so while as yet she is showing few symptoms, we have decided to make her last months as much fun as possible. That means cruising on the canals, cuddling and eating sausages.

We have three weeks from today to get to Ellesmere on the Llangollen canal, where we will meet up with Mandy’s two brothers and their wives who have hired a boat to share a holiday with us. We are really looking forward to that. Three weeks should be plenty of time, hopefully enough to also allow us a side trip up to Chester.

We are of course somewhat subdued with Ziggy’s news, but we are still loving the boating life, as is she.

Tag: pets

Why am I only walking one dog?

Farewell to the Macc