Silly Spaniels

Amanda Lennon
Feb 7
2 min read

We have always had dogs except for a brief time when we returned to the UK from New Zealand. Given the nature of our return (we had lost everything - house and belongings - in the Christchurch earthquakes of 2011) we were at a low point, to say the least. One of the hardest decisions we'd had to make was rehoming our pair of Golden Retrievers, George and Mildred. At the time Christchurch was still being rocked by aftershocks (more than 12 per day) and all of us were suffering, George and Mildred particularly. We were in temporary accommodation, which was proving hard enough to secure if you had children, let alone two large dogs. We remain eternally grateful to the radio station (can't remember which one, I'll have to blame the trauma) who helped to identify a lovely family from out of the area who took them in. As a result, we returned to England without canine companions - the first time the kids had ever been without a dog or two or three...

We were offered pick of a litter of Springer Spaniels by a friend of the family - the most perfect and thoughtful gift anyone could have given us. Every Friday after school I took Sophie up to see the puppy that we'd let her choose and name, until the day we were able to bring Jelly home. And so began our love affair with spaniels. Those crazy, loveable fur babies that have brought us so much joy and heartbreak.

We currently have, in age descending order; BamBam Banana, Pies, Baby Bean, Pickle and Daffy Donut (Sunday name Dauphinoise and naughty name, GaDaffy as in the terrorist). We lost Turnip (passed out in pic 3) and Potato (pic 5) last year and are still heartbroken. Jelly died the year before and we also lost an adopted a rescue Springer a few years ago. Old Cheese (the rescue) was about 10 years old when we got her. She had been a puppy farm bitch and had lots of health issues but we're pleased to have given her a warm and loving home for a couple of years.

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