Friday 12 October 2007

Charlie

While we were still at Withy Brook, A was born. As Charlie was a child substitute up to that moment, it could have been difficult. However, he was a dog in a million. He certainly was not adversely affected by the advent of a baby into his life. The fact that said baby was a 'screamer' affected his missus a great deal more than him!.

Life continued in a rather different way. A baby who had to be 'walked'. Charlie did not know the meaning of the word - so this was a benefit though the walks were constricted to the only road, because of the pram! An extra person entered his life - the Mother's help. I dare say she slipped him food which, being a labrador, was of immense importance. When the baby was about 10 months old, missus became pregnant again and after a while, it was found that her blood pressure was up. As far as I can remember, it was at about 6 months. After that life became very boring for a labrador. Missus was in bed. The mother's help looked after the baby during the day. Master came home about 6.0 but the baby had to be put to bed. The dog took a very minor part. Looking back, as I write this, all I remember was the terrible frustration of being bed-bound and the difficulties of a hyper-active todler. No memories of how we looked after a yellow labrador. It is part of his glory that he did not cause us any problems.

It was probably during this time that 2 things happened. The first was when I was up. An Indian carpet seller came to try to sell us carpets (!) He got no nearer than the front gate. A yellow lion stood between him and me. A huge ruff and a deep voice were enough to persuade him that I did not need one of his carpets.

The other thing was when, about 1.00 am, a knocking came at the door. We were the last house on the way up to the moor. No 1 went down to see what it was all about. He was quite frightened and took Charlie with him. Again the huge ruff and the deep bark were enough to reduce the man whose car had failed up the hill to a heap of shaking jelly!!

In the end the baby who had caused Missus to be in bed for 2 1/2 months arrived. 6 months later the family moved to Hurworth and The Old House. This was a large house in the village. It had a large garden, but there were no longer fields around. Despite this, Charlie seemed to keep well. He was, by now getting on in age. He developed a kidney problem. The vet that we used was in Darlington. Those of you who know the Herriot stories may remember that Herriot used a vet in Darlington for small dog problems. This was Petty who was a brilliant vet and looked after Charlie very well. By the time he died, I reckoned I had bought at least one wheel of Petty's Bentley!! Charlie was not allowed any meat for the last part of his life and lived on a special kidney diet, which came in a can. The butcher and his delivery boy knew about the ban on meat. Charlie had always had an absolute passion for kidneys. No 1 went to Harrow School and had fond memories of Sunday breakfast - bacon, egg, mushroom, and kidney. As a result, we often bought kidneys from the butcher. One awful day, the 'boy' gave Charlie kidney, or maybe put the kidneys where he could get at them. The result was fatal. During that night he started to leak almost continuously and could not stand up by morning. It was clear what was to happen. I took him to see Petty, knowing what he would say. I could not stay with him - isn't that awful? But I just couldn't. I went back to the car and just wept and wept. After a short time Petty came out and said that Charlie had gone peacefully to Dogs Valhalla and what could he do for me? He offered a cigarette which I took, but all he could really do was leave me till I felt I could drive home. I got there in the end! (I have tears in my eyes as I write this)

More will come in the next addition. It would not be right to go on, after Charlie's going.

10 comments:

Faith said...

Not surprised you had tears writing this - I had tears reading it. Its terribly sad when a pet has to go. Poor brave Charlie. Lovely blog Withy. The buying the wheel of the Bentley reminded me of my father. He was an accountant and would never drive TOO flash a car because he said his clients wouldnt like to see him getting too rich on their money! the vet obviously didnt worry about that!

Withy Brook said...

I enjoyed that about your Father, Faith!

DJ Kirkby said...

Oh how sad...one of our cats has the same disorder, very scary as the nieghbors like to feed him and we have had to ask them not to continue risking his life. I am a midwife and know how dangerous riased blood pressure can be in pregnancy. I was glad to read that your pregnancy continued safley with no ill effect to you or your baby.

Unknown said...

Oh how sad... and how beautifully written. Poor Charlie, and poor you. We had a cat put to sleep years ago, she was 21 and had been in our family since she was a kitten ... we couldn't stay either.

I had high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia) when I was pregnant too, and was sent to hospital, where I gave birth to my daughter a month early!

I look forward to reading more of your diary soon.

Tattieweasle said...

I hate the fact there are so many dogs in our lives I don't like to see them go either - when we moved to North Yorkshire in 1973 Mum had to take our whippet Rob to the vet - couldn't understand why the queue to see him was so long. She waited hours what seemed like hours only to find out the vet she was to see was busy signing books! Arthur(James Herriot) was very relieved to have to deal with a real patient!

Kathleen said...

What a wonderful story about your Charlie! I can see him as the yellow lion, roaring at the man with the broken-down car. Please continue with the story!

Casdok said...

Yes poor Charlie, and poor you. I too have tears in my eyes.

Pipany said...

Very sad Withy, but beautifully written. Love the yellow lion description xx

Wooly Works said...

What a heart wrenching account. We've lost a few of our favorite family pets as well and it's just a difficult in many ways as losing a family member. I can't wait to find out how you carried on afterwards. Thanks for a reminder to appreciate the special ones in my life.

Anonymous said...

Ah Bottomless love buckets!

We have a Boot Hill here as close to inside the cemetery as possible