Vale Miss Rosie

“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.”

―M.K. Clinton(author, The Returns)

Love, just love, all love, that might be all that needs to be said about Miss Rosie. But I would like to honour the beautiful presence that was our Miss Rosie as the world is simply poorer, love poor, with her departure from this life and it is only fitting that some record is kept of what this essence of love was.

Miss Rosie, Little Miss Comfort, Wosie Wuth the Wascally Wabbit, The Rose, Love Bug, Miss Cuddles, Wuppy, Sister were all titles accorded to this wonderful cavoodle dog who graced us with her presence for nearly 14 years. 

Rosie brought at least one smile to my face every single day in all that time be it:

• from the wag she would always give when I came into her space, 
• her constant search for comfort, 
• her need to rest her head on something, anything
• her double dip she would do when a poo turned in to a pee as well, 
• the bark at me daily at about 4:30pm to “invite” me to sit on the lounge and give her a cuddle, 
• her big ferocious, but belated, yelping at the window to just back up Daisy’s milder barking at a passerby, 
• her occasional enthusiastic rearrangement of Elmo.
• her rugby style shoulder bump to get Daisy out of her way
• how she would just look up at me from my lap as in the photo above  

Rosie seemed always to be an old soul with so much love to give and she expressed that to everybody she came across. Whenever we visited the vets or were out walking and strangers would be seen by her she would sort of cry/talk to get their attention and a pat if possible.  

I have written about her previously on the blog and here are a selection of these posts which I invite you to read, particularly #3 “Her constant search for comfort”, to get a fuller picture of Miss Rosie. Click on the text to open the posts:

1. Her trick to get a rest on our walks
2. Her first walking experiences
3. Her constant search for comfort
4. Her companionship in meditation
5. Her beautiful relationship with Elmo
6. Some more info on Elmo

Rosie wouldn’t make a big deal of it but she would always be lying somewhere close by whenever I meditated. In her later days we would just let her sleep in and get up when she was ready. But invariably as I sat down to start meditation in my office with Daisy in the big dog bed beside me we would hear the slow click clack of Rosies toe nails on the wooden hallway floor as she made her way from the bedroom to the office. I would then wait while she made her way across the office to flop down on the dog bed close to Elmo as if to say “OK you can start, I’m here now” and go back to sleep.

The strength in Miss Rosie’s back legs deteriorated in later life to the extent that she was unable to negotiate the back steps of our house in oder to do her ablutions. This led to my becoming her “Uber” driver as I had to pick her up and carry her down the steps, wait for her to do her business and then repeat the process back up the steps. Miss Comfort of course adapted to this change of circumstance very well and would cuddle into my shoulder quite readily to avoid having to expend any more energy than was absolutely necessary. We had to buy a little cart for her to sit in as Daisy and I went for a walk and from there she would call out to any other people we met and encourage them to give her a pat.

Miss Rosie also became prone to struvite crystals in later life and after the second operation for the removal of bladder stones about eighteen months ago the vet insisted that we put her solely on a diet of special crystal-reduction kibble which Rosie took to with gusto, as she did most food. We think the beinning of the end came about a month ago when she just suddenly refused to eat the special diet kibble. We tried various ways to get her to eat it but she got even more stubborn the more we tried. We then switched her over to another brand of dietary kibble which she accepted for a couple of days before deciding that was also not to her liking. A friend of mine is a big proponent of raw food diet for his cavaliers and we thought this might be worth a try as we were getting quite concerned about her well being and thankfully she accepted the raw food diet. 

But Rosie became even more listless and slept constantly apart from being woken for toilet breaks. We even had to wake her for meals which she would only eat after some encouragement.  But it was her strange behaviour when outside where she would just walk aimlessly in circles, walk in to pot plants or stand in one place and slowly move her head from side to side that really concerned us. She no longer responded to my calls and I would just have to go out and pick her up when I was fairly sure she had finished her toiletry. After much agonising we realised that the time had come to take her to see her favourite vet and he checked her over and sadly told us that it appeared that she had a brain tumour that had caused her to lose her sight and much of her hearing and pointed out how her eyes appeared to be bulging out. He could offer only palliative care but when pressed he recommended euthanasia as the only real way to ease her suffering. 

We had prepared ourselves mentally for the worst and wished with all our hearts that her suffering could end so we took the latter option. I sat with her snuggled into my arms in her inimitable way and cuddled her through the painless process as we said goodbye to our dear sweet soul who will live forever in our hearts. Thank you Miss Rosie for a life lived full of love.

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”

—Will Rogers (actor, Connecticut Yankee [VHS])

Miss Rosie highlights: