Jess the Dog

Alicia saw Jess first of all. She was sat in the window of a small electrical shop near where we used to live, a year old black and white border collie. The owners of the shop had bought her from the RSPCA shelter a couple of weeks earlier but their other dog wasn't getting on with her so we offered to take her on. She was theoretically Alicia's dog but almost inevitably dog walking duties fell to me and we settled into a routine of walks on the Bole Hills morning and night.

Jess was a very active dog, bordering on the manic at times. She could hear a postman or a football being kicked two streets away and she wanted to be involved. She was the best dog I've ever seen playing with a ball - she'd catch it on her chest and then control it precisely with her nose and on one memorable occasion she outfoxed a Chesterfield United player on a training session, stealing the ball from under his nose. Her favourite toy, however, was her yellow frisbee. She would run for miles, up and down the slopes with her eye fixed on the flying disc, ready to snatch it from the air and return it to my feet for another throw.

The frisbee was her downfall though. On one long throw she twisted in the air to reach for it and damaged one of her cruciate ligaments in her back leg. She limped back to me, her leg pulled up underneath her. She still wanted to play, but she could no longer run as she had before. I took her to vet who prescribed some tablets and restricted her to walks on the lead only. She was utterly frustrated by her injury - everytime her leg improved enough to put weight on, she would over exert herself and make the injury worse.

The vet was pleased with her progress though and reduced the dose of anti-arthritic drugs that she was on, but it was too late. I don't know if it was a side effect of the tablets, but she suddenly became very lethargic. She normally slept in the kitchen with the door shut, but on this particular night she came upstairs and lay down at the side of the bed beside me. In the morning she couldn't stand up.

I took her back to vet and he kept her in for observation because she was extremely jaundiced. Two hours later, he called to say that she had collapsed with liver failure. By the time I got to the surgery she had died.

That was a year ago today, and it still hurts now. I scattered her ashes in the woods where I now take Barney for his walks, and this morning I could picture her running alongside me, wagging her tail.

Rest in peace, Jess.

www.planethopkins.com/pets.htm