The Dog With Nine Lives (7 page)

Authors: Della Galton

Then I finally left the hospital. I was driving through Kinson, which was about halfway home when my phone rang again. It was Tony.

âI'm really sorry,' he began, âBut I just phoned the vet and Lindy passed away an hour ago.'

I remember shouting at him that this couldn't be right. She'd been improving the last time I'd phoned. Poor Tony must have been deafened by my howls of grief. I couldn't see straight for tears. I could certainly no longer drive. I pulled over to the side of the road and I rested my head on the steering wheel and just cried and cried. I thought my heart would break.

Lindy and I had been through so much and I hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye.

Afterword

T
HERE IS NO HAPPY
ending when you lose someone you love. I know from experience that it's as heartbreaking to lose a dog you love as it is to lose a person. This is a truth that has never really surprised me. After all, love is love, and is not determined by whether a creature has two legs or four.

I never planned to get involved with Lindy. I never planned to bring a little stray dog back to England. If I hadn't had such long arms maybe none of it would have happened. But I do know that I feel blessed.

We had her for eight fantastic years. She brought immense joy into our lives. She brought us worries too, but, then, the two usually come hand in hand, don't they? Life was certainly never dull with Lindy around. She lived every one of her nine lives to the full.

She even trained up her successor â Rosie never did get a home â and she has very big paw prints to fill, but I think Lindy would have approved of our decision to keep her. In fact whenever I think about Lindy and her life with us, I smile. Could she have left us a better legacy than that? I don't think so!

Useful Addresses

Dog's Trust
Head Office
Dogs Trust, 17 Wakley Street, London, EC1V 7RQ
www.dogstrust.org.uk

The Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS)
Support for bereaved pet owners
Contact
0800 096 6606
(some mobile networks may charge) from 8:30am - 8:30pm, or email
[email protected]
.

Useful websites

Dorset Animal Workers Group (DAWG) (Dog Rescue)
www.dawgdogs.net

Lyn at Happy Dogs (Dog Rescue)
www.happydogsrescue.co.uk

Liz at Somerset and Dorset Animal Rescue (Animal Rescue)
www.somersetanddorsetanimalrescue.co.uk

Happy Landings (Animal Rescue)
www.happy-landings.org.uk

Jo at Tricks4Treats (Dog Training in Dorset)
www.tricks4treats.co.uk

Also by Della Galton

HELTER SKELTER

Brought up on a seaside fairground, Vanessa knows all about what a rollercoaster ride life can be. Tragedy forces her to flee but when she discovers that her husband, a property developer, is cheating on her she returns. But the fair has gone, the land, bought by her husband, is now covered by luxury flats.
Going back can be painful but this is just the start of the Helter Skelter for Vanessa. While she feels her life is spiralling ever downwards, there are the strong arms of a passion from her past to catch her at the end.

ISBN 9781905170975 Price Â£6.99

PASSING SHADOWS

How do you choose between friendship and love? Maggie faces an impossible dilemma when she discovers that Finn, the man she loves, is also the father of her best friend's child. Should Maggie betray her best friend, who never wanted him to know? Or lie to Finn, the first man she's ever trusted enough to love? The decision is complicated by the shadows of her past.

ISBN 9781905170234 Price Â£6.99

Also from Accent Press

Few people can appreciate the joy that being owned by a cat brings better than David St John Thomas â the latest in a long line of publishers and authors to pay homage to the very special cats who have entered their busy lives. This is a book for everyone who really cares about cats. Vividly written, sometimes serious, sometimes light-hearted, anyone who has fallen for a cat, however much against their better judgement, is bound to find it uplifting. While cat people are nice (Hitler couldn't stand them!), the real heroes in this book are naturally the cats themselves. A rich portfolio of feline characters â including the author's own cats â step off the page, or perhaps lie curled in seductive curves on it, so vividly that you can feel their fur and hear their purr! Rich in entertaining anecdotes and asides,
For the Love of a Cat
will enhance all cat owners' understanding of their feline friend and remind them again and again just how lucky they are to share their lives with this most fascinating of creatures.

ISBN 9781921497360 â Â£9.99