Rutland Water to the Irish Sea
July the 4th is famously celebrated in some parts of the world and now unfortunately that date will be forever remembered in our hearts for a very different reason.
We lost ‘our Sky’ after a long battle with illness and although we knew the time was always going to be ‘just around the corner’ due to her condition it was still a massive shock when it came and the hole she has left behind will never be filled.
Sky was 9½ years’ old having been born on December 23rd 2008. At that time we were contemplating another dog and as I was working from home the idea of a puppy was discussed although Suzy had always had rescue dogs. Both ideas were tossed about but the kid in me wanted something different, something more than just giving an old dog a few happy years of retirement.
I scanned the web and came across an advert for a litter of Huskies not that far from where we lived. I gave them a ring and they had three left unreserved and we arranged to go and visit them, they were 6 weeks old.
We made the 30-minute journey from Leicester to a little village on the banks of Rutland Water. We decided to take our other dog ‘Blue’ who was a pretty large German Shepherd for a walk at the same time, kill two birds……………….
At the house we were greeted by a half a dozen little Huskies running about - well all but one was running about.
This little bundle of fluff was very much on her own away from the pack and mother, the owner said she was always like this so it was a no brainer that this little lost soul was coming to live with us. Sky picked herself that day and she stayed true to those first impressions for pretty much the rest of her life, she was always going to be an individual and in charge, but had a lovely way of showing it.
The first big moment to remember her by wasn’t long in coming, she had met Blue and although it was a bit like Little & Large they clicked almost immediately. Her first very valuable lesson in life was not to try and eat from the same bowl as a dirty big German Shepherd. Blue picked her up and threw her like a rag doll, she screamed so loud I thought she was in big trouble but all she had to show for her misdemeanour was a little cut, she never-ever went near Blue’s dinner again.
Unfortunately, one of the over riding memories of Sky was her illness which she had from about 9 months old. She had a lung disease called ‘eosinophilic pneumonia’. Basically she develops too many white cells in her lungs which take up the air-space. The medication is fairly simple; she has steroids every single day of her life or she dies. The down side is that she eats and drinks for England but wont run for England, her stamina was greatly limited.
Over the years we had our ups and downs with Sky’s health but overall we controlled it pretty well and to be honest we thought we were looking at her living until she was five or six before her lungs packed up, that was the early diagnosis. We definitely didn’t think she would make the move to Southport, we so desperately wanted her to run free on the beach. That dream was realised a couple of years ago and we have so many photos and videos of her mooching about on Southport beach with her ever-changing pack.
If the lung issue wasn’t enough Sky was hit with another serious illness in 2017, she was diagnosed with diabetes and she lost her sight completely, it was almost overnight. You could cry and you could feel sorry for her but Sky is a fighter and wasn’t letting anything get the better of her. I think it was her ‘I don’t give a stuff’ attitude that kept her alive and made even her more special, if that was possible.
We ended up having to give her two injections a day with insulin as well as the steroids and ultimately that concoction was the beginning of the end. As far as the blindness goes like everything else you could throw at Sky she coped with it superbly well. She mapped out the house and the garden and even continued her foraging on the beach until her final few weeks.
It’s weird now going for a walk with the dogs and not having to dodge litter bins, parked cars and all sorts of other obstacles that Sky used to bump in to. At night Suzy walked Sky and was often behind me as they were pretty slow and you could here Suzy shout “Step” every time they came to a kerb, she listened for instructions and trusted us completely, people must have thought we were nuts.
I feel like I have lost a friend not just a pet, she will never be replaced in my heart. She has taught me so many things about life and if there is one message that Sky always told us, it was don’t let anything get in the way of making the best out of life. Someone, somewhere is worse off than you and Sky never settled for the easy way out, she enjoyed her life right til the end.
We will scatter her ashes on Southport beach and she will join her other ex-pack members who are somewhere in the Irish Sea.
Sky had lived with and bossed Blue, Sheba, Major, Sabre (fostered), Harry (fostered), April (fostered), Bear (fostered) and Jimmy (fostered). She left behind Ben, Frankie, Shadow, Leo and Max and of course Suzy and Graham x
