{"id":1670,"date":"2014-09-14T23:09:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2014-09-14T23:28:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-14T13:28:28","slug":"the-end-of-an-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/?p=1670","title":{"rendered":"The End of an Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

The End of an Era<\/p>\n

Jessie has been part of the family since I gave in to the argument, \u201cPhantom is lonely, and he needs a friend.\u201d\u00a0 She had been surrendered to the RSPCA by her family who were moving and unable to take her.\u00a0 She seemed like the most likely of the dogs available at the RSPCA and also the ACT Dog Pound, especially as a vet had told me to get a different gender from the current dog.\u00a0 Phantom visited her at the RSPCA where they ignored each other which I was told was a good sign.\u00a0 Once came home they got on well together to the extent that a couple of weeks ago they both were eating from the same side of the cat bowl.<\/p>\n

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Jessie aged about 9 or 10<\/p><\/div>\n

Jessie was a cross between a Staffordshire terrier and a Labrador. \u00a0She had the appetite of a Labrador and the protective instincts of the staffie in not wanting another female on her territory as we and her \u201ccousin\u201d from Sydney were to discover.\u00a0 She liked to have a bit of a tussle every now and then and would initiate it by getting Phantom by the neck.\u00a0 He would comply by rolling over they would have a lovely time rolling around for a few minutes.\u00a0 \u00a0She ensured that Phantom knew he was not \u201cTop Dog\u201d by scraping him on a leg when he was curled up on a bed she wanted.\u00a0 Being a gentleman, he always arose and gave it to her, moving to a seemingly less desirable bed.\u00a0 She enjoyed sleeping anywhere she wanted, sun baking, running around the back yard with Phantom and a visit from Son No. 2 when they would indulge in some special Jessie and \u201cboy\u201d play.\u00a0 Together they were a pair of happy, even tempered, relaxed dogs rarely barking unless it was to issue a \u201cpossum alert\u201d about the possums traversing the power lines in the back yard or in previous years Jessie would run around the back yard barking like a mad thing when she sensed thunder.\u00a0 Fortunately her hearing diminished and she missed out on the bulk of thunder during the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

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We're having fun<\/p><\/div>\n

Jessie developed arthritis some years ago and also liver and gastrointestinal problems.\u00a0 She managed well and each time I thought the end was near she\u2019d demonstrate a whole new level of energy.\u00a0 However, she was uninterested in eating on Wednesday evening and again on Thursday and combined with restlessness and other symptoms I decided it was time.\u00a0 Fortunately Son No 2 was on holidays and able to drive us to the vet and to dig a grave for her.<\/p>\n

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Phantom loves holding a lead & here he has Jessie the week before when she was ready for a trip to the vet for an arthritis injection<\/p><\/div>\n

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September 11, My Last Day, aged 16<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Phantom doesn’t seem to have noticed that his friend is absent. \u00a0While he likes to meet dogs during walks he is focused on human interaction at home and at the moment he always \u00a0has a human available. \u00a0Think it might be rather different if he was left home alone for hours on end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The End of an Era Jessie has been part of the family since I gave in to the argument, \u201cPhantom is lonely, and he needs a friend.\u201d\u00a0 She had been surrendered to the RSPCA by her family who were moving and unable to take her.\u00a0 She seemed like the most likely of the dogs available […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[87,98,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animals-2","category-australia","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1670"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1685,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}