Tuppie
Legacy Name: Tuppie

Thank you to Sunlight for actually making Tuppie's overlay as a gift. You are awesome!

Full name: Tuppence

Date of birth: 27th May, 1995

Date of death: 18th September, 2011

Liked: barking, sleeping, squeaky toys, toys that moved or vibrated, drinking tea and coffee (in moderation!) any kind of meat (except for cheap frozen beef mince and the roast beef that mum cooked once that was as tough as an old boot), walks, being fussed, bone treats, digging and her little squeaky meerkat toy.

Disliked: cats, fruit and veg, men, being left on her own, being startled (she was deaf in her later years), loud noises, children, having strangers in the house and my dad.

Notable features: A brown patch on her side, which isn't noticeable in the overlay, which was the size of a two pence piece when she was a puppy, hence her name.

BIOGRAPHY

I was nine years old when I saw Tuppie for the first time. My mum had just finished work and was knocking the door to be let in. I raced to the door and opened it and there she was, a massive grin on her face and a small, beautiful puppy in her arms.

"It's a puppy! It's a puppy!" I could remember yelling. My brother was upstairs and my dad was in the kitchen. None of them really believed me, even though we'd discussed getting another dog to keep our other dog, Dandy, company. When they came in my younger brother yelled out with joy and surprise. My dad, being a man, tried not to show too much emotion, but I could tell he was happy too because I was his daughter and I could read him like a book, even at the tender age of nine.

She was scared of everything at first. Sudden movements petrified her so we all had to be very careful around her. I can remember my brother throwing one of his toys on the couch while she was on there. She didn't half jump! She soon grew out of that phase and started barking at anything and everything. I'm sure she thought she had an almighty bark on her, but to us it was just a tiny little squeak. Before long, her bark developed into a typical Jack Russell yap which she used right up to her last days.

Up until about the age of six, Tuppie had the hugest ears. They were very tall and wide (but mostly tall); we often joked that if she was outside, the wind would catch her ears and she'd be off. Unfortunately, one of her ears went very bad. Basically she had something called an aural haematoma, where the ear fills up with blood and becomes very swollen, so she had it drained. Unfortunately for Tuppie, this became the first of a series of illnesses, the main one being cancer. The cancer was in her mammary gland and struck her when she was eight. When she had it removed, the vet who treated her said it was likely that she wouldn't survive for longer than six months. We were devastated, but we kept our hopes up. To everyone's amazement, the operation was a complete success and Tuppie survived for not only six months, but eight years.

Tuppie gave us many laughs over the years. Sometimes she could be grumpy and would growl at anything. Other times she'd bound up to you and plant lots of warm licks on your face. Other times she'd play fetch with her toys and other times she'd run us all ragged with her crazy antics. When she became an old lady, Tuppie used to bark when she was left in the living room on her own. Sometimes I'd creep downstairs and watch her. It was funny seeing the sheepish look on her face when she realised she'd been caught barking! We all loved Tuppie to bits.

It was a sad time during the month of September, 2011. She had another type of cancer, called bowel cancer in her last year, which unfortunately only got diagnosed when we took her to the vet for the last ever time. At sixteen-years-old, having lived a life that was full of love and excitement, with my mum and I by her side, we finally said our goodbyes to our little furry friend on the 18th September, 2011. We took her body home, gave her one last cuddle and a kiss, wrapped her up in her favourite blanket and buried her in the garden, next to our other dog and Tuppie's friend, Dandy.

When I look out of my window, I can see the statue of a white dog and if fills me with happiness when I think back to the lovely years I had with my dogs, Tuppie and Dandy. The two of them will have a place in my heart forever.