Sent with love to the Bridge on Boxing Day 2009, a couple of weeks short of 13 years old.
Dearly loved, our mischievous clown, Bozo.
We miss you so much Bo.
We miss your joy of life, your happy stompy-dance.
No more finding you and your pointy nose fishing around in visitors' handbags and packpacks - pulling out all the contents, because there just might be something interesting in there.
No more night patrols of the house, looking for that packet of biscuits, that loaf of bread mistakenly left out on a bench, or that shopping bag that might have something in it.
No more joyous romps into the lounge room, grinning, dancing, stomping, to tell us how much you enjoyed your dinner.
No more anxious circling, pacing back and forth and head butting, until - finally - room is made for you on the couch.
No more rounding me up when you decide it's time for us to go to bed...
Greatly loved by your owners, you were John's first racer. Never a star on the track, but a competitor just for the sheer joy of it. Three wonderful years with us and your little "harem" - Maggie and Lulu. I think they know you're gone, but they're checking for you at all your favorite weemail spots - just in case you went by that way...
It was a shock, Bo, that you went so suddenly. John and Sue were coming down to visit you in another couple of weeks. Happy, silly and outwardly healthy right up until the end - our precious old fossil.
Girlie will have found you already at the bridge. I know you two will get on just great. Wings on your feet now. We miss you old fella.
On Boxing Day Bo's back leg broke. There was no "accident" or apparent trauma. A long break through the bone, high up on his right-rear leg. An X-ray at our local emergency vet hospital showed substantial deterioration of the hard outer bone sheath, leaving Bo with fragile, brittle bones. The surgeon could have attempted to fix a plate to his leg, but there was a risk that the bone would shatter. We didn't want Bo to spend what time he might have had left in pain and disabled as we tried to "patch him up"...so we decided to say goodbye.
We love you Bo. The house is so quiet without you.