.jpg.ee2887b6ca23ca9faef8ad9d854c8c5a.jpg)
MerseyGrey
-
Posts
992 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Store
Articles
Posts posted by MerseyGrey
-
-
Such a pretty girl! Happy birthday Sweep!
-
18 hours ago, BatterseaBrindl said:
Run Free Buddy Molly
Remember all the good times...
-
Thank you both
-
1 hour ago, macoduck said:
How's them 
AnnIE?
That is the face! ‘Which phone should I look at?’
-
29 minutes ago, Banjoman said:
Sorry Buddy had to leave you but you all shared such love!
Thank you
-
6 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:
Have a wonderfully sad and grateful holiday. His spirit will be with you, every step.
Sniffaris --
How you met reminds me of my Romie, whom you never met. I asked at the kennel who needed a home the most, and was told, That big quiet one. There's not a thing wrong with him, but people just the dark fur and the white on his muzzle and think he's just an old black dog, and walk on by. Buddy might have been giving you a test to see if you could tell that he was truly made out of gold.
Romie
I think I might always be drawn to the quiet ones now. It’s a pleasure to watch their personalities begin to shine..
5 hours ago, GreyPoopon said:I'm so very sorry. You made the right call at the right time, but that's small consolation for the loss of a special boy. Buddy was in exactly the right home. Your tribute to him is beautiful and touching.
Godspeed Buddy.
thank you
-
Thank you both.
@Time4ANap in his last few months, Buddy posed just like Rocket does in your signature picture and he reminded me of him, although his colouring couldn’t be more different! I tried so often to take a photo of him in that pose, but every time I got near him with the camera, he’d lift his head with a look that said ‘what are you doing woman?’ He has left a very big hole in our hearts
-
Thank you both
-
-
I thought I’d start with an introduction since I never did that properly when I joined GreyTalk
This is Buddy Molly, born Nov 5th 2010, one of two boys from a litter of seven. Buddy was an Essex boy, and ran all of his 112 races in Romford, retiring in February 2015. We don’t know anything about the the three years between then and when he turned up at the Dog’s Trust rehoming centre on Merseyside in March 2018, but we know that he was a quite gentle boy, and that the staff loved him, because when we turned up looking for a German shepherd in June 2018, they told us that they couldn’t understand why nobody had had shown any interest in him. Looking around the kennels, we remember seeing a big black slouch who couldn’t be bothered to get off his bed for the piece of chicken we waved at him through the bars. When he did, he made it clear that it wasn’t really worth the effort, although the chin rubs he got were ok, but he took himself back off to his bed and we returned to our original plan of bringing home a GSD.
Back with the volunteers we chatted a bit, they said they thought a greyhound would be a better fir for our lifestyle as we both worked, and had we thought about Buddy? They supposed that he was overlooked because he was black, which shocked us and made us think twice about him. At that moment, he was going for his afternoon walk, so was brought in for a proper meet and greet and…the rest is history. We were in love.
That summer was a scorcher, and he spent whatever time he could in the garden. When he wasn’t, he could be found on his new bed, stretched out on his back, legs akimbo. He didn’t roach much in his later years - possibly because I couldn’t resist rubbing his belly when it was exposed, possibly because of his arthritis. But this was a common sight in 2018.
He fitted so well into our lives, like he had always been part of the tribe. We took holidays with him and tried to find places he would enjoy. This photo was from a place called Beddgelert in Snowdonia, resting place of faithful hound Gelert who defended and protected his masters’ son. Due to a misunderstanding by the stoopid human, Gelert was killed and was buried here (so the story goes). Buddy paid appropriate homage and peed on the grave. Woodland adventures were Buddy’s favourites and he loved all the new smells. He would strut ahead of us in his quest to get to some unknown destination ahead of his deadweight humans. This holiday above was where we forgot to take his muzzle and found that his behaviour towards other dogs was much better. From this time onwards, we didn’t muzzle him and we made a bit of progress with his dog reactivity, soon to be scuppered by covid.
Buddy’s main role in the family was chief taste tester and quality assurance for belly rubs and ear scritches. His assessment was that Dad was a bit stingy with the food and that Mum could be persuaded to almost anything. He ensured that we both bought a new car each for greyhound transportation, but steadfastly refused to look like he was enjoying Mum’s car, while he was as good as gold when Dad’s car was reversed up to the house.
Buddy’s favourite toy was Honky the Hedgehog, and he destroyed many during his tenure at Maison Haydon. But he wasn’t so picky that he wouldn’t play with other toys. Nanny Janny and Grandpapa John were dispatched to the United States on an errand (whilst pretending to go over to look after their new grandchild): bring back the fabled LambChop who was such a favourite with American hounds. Buddy played with her for all of ten minutes on the first day, snatching her from Granny’s hand before unceremoniously dumping her in the garden so he could have belly rubs from his favourite Nanny. He also loved the flamingo he got from Dad one birthday, but only for a little longer
In his older years he still loved to have a mad minute (half an hour was way too long) and could be seen dashing around the garden, usually with Honky flying through the air. These moments were spontaneous and sudden and I will cherish these memories forever. Since starting injections for arthritis in September 2022, he regained some vigour and a lust for life and they greatly improved his quality of life, we believe. The deterioration that we started to see in the last three months or so we had accounted to needing a higher dose of Librela. We hadn’t considered that our handsome old man might be slowing down for other reasons
Many of you have read, advised and offered support on the other posts I’ve made recently, for which I am indescribably grateful, so I won’t dwell too much on his last few weeks. In summary, he began to lose his appetite and initially what we thought was a treatable infection in his gallbladder was more likely lymphoma. Having seen how this can affect the internal organs, I’m not surprised that he was off his food and am amazed at his capacity to cope for as long as he did. While I’m struggling to come to terms with our decision, I know that ultimately it was probably the kindest thing to do because a perforation would have been painful and slow and lingering for him. Hopefully we can take some time to reflect on this over the next week or so.
Five years, three months and twenty-five days. We go on our first holiday without him on Friday. We had booked a cabin in a forest for his sniffaris, and were planning on taking him for short walks on the beach, since we discovered he loved the beach on a holiday last year. He loved it so much that he did this…
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbDZBhGqwl9/?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ== (This video is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it)
We are going to go to places that he would have loved, and we are going to buy cakes that he would have shared with us, and we are going to remember him and his goofiness, his gentle but demanding personality. This is one of the last photos I took of him at the weekend, snuggled with his dad, looking at his mum, and hopefully knowing how much he was loved. If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos
-
Thanks Ducky
-
5 hours ago, macoduck said:
I'm sure many of us have learned a lot about about Buddy's ups and downs, and it will certainly help other hounds in the future.
You did all you could do for Buddy and more.
I have added Buddy's name to the list of Bridge Angels on GT.
Thank you
Thank you all for your kind words
-
Thank you all so much. Your words are a real comfort. I’m so grateful to be part of this community
-
4 minutes ago, FiveRoooooers said:
You know, sometimes these dear souls will rally just before they leave, almost as tho they want their bright and usual behavior to override the sadness of late so that the good is how they are remembered. Buddy perhaps was trying to do that for you, a glimmer of the young man you loved and who loved you so in return for so long
Ellen and Dan, I am so sorry for your loss. Our hearts are broken with yours.
Such a good fella. Rest easy sweet boy.
Thank you
-
22 minutes ago, ramonaghan said:
Oh, Ellen, I'm so sorry. I was afraid of this when you didn't update. I am heartbroken for you. Please know you and Dan did everything you could for Buddy, and then some—no wonder he didn't want to leave you! We will miss him here so much and fondly remember his sweet senior romping in the garden.
Rest well, Buddy. You were such a good boy.
Thank you. I will do a proper tribute when I’ve pulled myself together a bit
-
1 hour ago, ramonaghan said:
Checking in for the vet report.
Thank you.
I don’t know how to write this. We said goodbye to Buddy tonight. The vet thought that with him not improving much and the blood markers from his test a couple of weeks ago that lymphoma was an increasingly likely scenario and thought that it was the right time to let him go. In true Buddy fashion, he made it as awkward as possible - he wouldn’t lie down, he wouldn’t offer his leg up, he wouldn’t keep still and he bared his teeth to warn the vet off. Eventually he slipped away and he looked more peaceful than he has done for a while.
I’d managed to convince myself that he was going to recover from this so we are in shock. I knew it was going to be hard if we did have to make this decision (I was hoping that he would go in his sleep so I wouldn’t have to make the choice), but I wasn’t expecting to feel like this. I miss him so much already. Our hearts are broken
-
oh Willa! It’s good to hear you’re still on form, if not very lady-like!
-
15 minutes ago, Jerilyn said:
The ups and down are horrible, aren't they?
I hope Buddy has turned the corner for good and has a long time of picky eating and honky hog mauling ahead!
Honky got a bit of a mauling this afternoon. After his five course extravaganza this evening, his tummy is gurgling and he is filling the room with toxic emissions!
-
36 minutes ago, EllenEveBaz said:
Way to go, Budsterino! Keep 'em guessing. And enjoy that delicious dogfood!
Please give him an extra special hug from us.
Hugs delivered
-
20 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:
Feel better, sweetest boy.
17 hours ago, GreyPoopon said:I agree with Jan: This is perfectly said.
that Buddy is turning a corner.
After another up and down of a few days, a couple of good things have happened: he has eaten DOGFOOD (and some human food with it, but he ate the dog food which is what I’m focusing on) and tonight he struggled and battled with me when I tried to give him his antibiotics. I couldn’t be happier about this. A little bit of life has come back to him. You can’t keep a good dog down!
Funny story from today. We have a new neighbour who I think is a bit lonely. He has a small chihuahua type dog, and when we take Buddy out for a walk, he often leaves his house at the same time just to pass the time of day for a few minutes. He did this today, and made the mistake of asking me how Buddy was. I started to cry at this poor man. Now, I am a messy, sobbing, ugly crier, and because I don’t do it very often (not including this weekend, of course), I really go for it when I do. I could barely get the words out to explain what was happening, and at the end finished with telling him that Buddy wasn’t even taking treats. I offered The Budster a treat to demonstrate my point, and what do you know? He took the treat. He took another. And then he took about ten more. Did I mention that he makes me look dramatic and a liar?
-
. There was a tv advert here a few years ago for oven chips - fat, fluffy versions of French fries - where a little girl had to choose: daddy or chips. The chips won, there was really no contest!
-
I took this about two weeks ago when I could still get him to eat peanut butter. The look on his face is because I had just told him I was going to get in the shower = leaving him. It’s the same response every time and I think he looks so sweet, despite the mental turmoil!
-
4 hours ago, AUSgrey said:
Of course - please feel that we are thinking as much about you as Buddy. It is a lot of mental and emotional energy we expend when trying so hard and not feeling that we are making any difference - having someone to help and share that heavy load and feeling supported by someone with great experience… that’s all…
Thank you.
6 hours ago, ramonaghan said: Hope Buddy continues to rally. I'm a big fan and need him to stick around and make you out to be a drama queen for a good while yet!
-
27 minutes ago, FiveRoooooers said:
Perfectly said.
4 minutes ago, AUSgrey said:PLEASE consider this:
https://www.caninenutritionist.co.uk/success-stories/beanie-update/
AUSgrey, thank you, but I can’t think about nutrition if I can’t get him to eat anything. I’ve seen your recent post and know that it’s a concern with your pooch, but at the moment my concern with Buddy is getting anything at all into him. Buddy is not normally a fussy eater - my main issue has been stopping him from eating everything! His current behaviour is a symptom of an underlying condition, and if he hadn’t been off his food, I wouldn’t have known there was something wrong with him.
How's them 
AnnIE?
That is the face! ‘Which phone should I look at?’
I think I might always be drawn to the quiet ones now. It’s a pleasure to watch their personalities begin to shine..
that Buddy is turning a corner.
Buddy Molly, aged 12 years, 11 months and five days
in Remembrance
Posted
Thank you. We did have a great time with him in the last five years. We were talking yesterday about how we had to adjust when we got him - mainly changing our working patterns and building a routine around him - but it felt effortless. I’m sure it wasn’t but that’s how we remember it. Now he’s gone it feels like everything has changed and it’s a big upheaval.
We spoke to Dan’s parents last night. They had arranged to put their cat Biggins into a cattery over Christmas when we would have been there with The Budster. I asked if they had cancelled his booking, and they replied that they were waiting to see if we got another dog first! I think we would both have one but one of the biggest things about having Buddy was the guilt we felt about leaving him on his own. Covid was great as Dan got to work from home for two years, so I felt less guilty. We won’t have that with another dog.
I also worried that getting another dog so soon would feel a bit like replacing him but I know that’s not right - we would be giving another dog an opportunity at life in a home, which can only be a good thing. We’ll see. I’m not sure which emotion will triumph.