Farewell to Winston
Today we are saying farewell to Winston, our dear friend who lived in Canada. Sadly his time came to cross the rainbow bridge earlier this week. We were all sincerely sorry to hear the news, having followed his travels over the years. He is going to leave a very big hole in his human’s life and we send her all the love and licks that we can.
Thankfully he found the energy to play right up to the last and was able to enjoy his final weeks including playing ball in a maze that his human dug for him so he could still play fetch outside in the deep snow.
In his Human’s Words
We very much liked the words his human sent us and we are sure she won’t mind us sharing them with you. They say so much about Winston as an individual and about our breed as a whole. He was a very special and much loved dog.
‘In Switzerland, before acquiring Winston I had to take a course for new dog owners. The trainer, who was lovely, said that as dog owners, we would find ourselves all sorts of places we never would have visited without a dog. I certainly found those words to be true. We had many many adventures together. Both Winston and I had many things we needed to learn – and we did it together.
He hiked, sledded, swam and boated with the family over the years. He did four years of training every Saturday in Sydney -it was outdoors- and he was the loudest dog at the training ground- I think I was being trained to hand over sausage to quiet him down! When I brought him subsequently to an indoor training centre here in Toronto he was quiet as a lamb. He even did a little bit of sheep herding at one point. The trainer’s comment was that he had great presence with the sheep!
Despite all this activity, we had lots of quiet time, when he was a model artist’s dog and he snoozed the day away while I worked at my easel. While I was away recently, he snoozed with my husband as he worked in his office.
He loved his family, and we loved him. He had a huge personality and I am grateful that we had the luck to share time with him even though that time was a little too short.’
Playing with Alfie
Mum thinks that Winston would have been just the sort of dog that Alfie would have enjoyed playing with and she hopes that wherever they are now that Alfie might have been there to welcome Winston and have a game or two together.
Love
Wilma
Dear Wilma, I am sure that Winston and Alfie will be having lots of fun together over the Rainbow Bridge. Thank you for including Winston’s adventures in your Diary over the years. Though sad, I am happy to have had such a great dog with me to share all our adventures with for the last eleven years. I think if Winston had any had words of wisdom now to share, I am sure that they would be – Keep playing and having lots of fun.
And they would be very wise words. He was an inspiration.
All our love
Wilma
Run fast and fly high, dear Winston, over to that special place we call The Rainbow Bridge. What a great character you are, and thanks to your mum for sharing with us about you, all those great, joyful, priceless moments! One day, you will all be reunited. A big warm hug to all of you!
Mum said she saw a very strong rainbow yesterday and it made her think of Winston and Alfie and all the dogs on the other side running free.
Love
Wilma