Moose went to join Keg and Jazz on the bridge on Tuesday. She was only 11 and in perfect health, except she's been blind for about a year.

Why Moose you may ask. Well when I saw her in the pet shop ( places I no longer frequent ) I picked her up and she sat in the palm of my hand. I decided then and there she was coming home with me. I was sure she was too young to be away from her mum. I took her home pulled her out of my pocket held her in my hand and showed my husband. He said you want to be careful of that dog it looks like a killer. He said thats what we'll call her. I said no thats too obvious. Shes sooo little she has to have a BIG name. Whats big? Elephants and Hippopotumus, they're too long for a name. Moose are big. Thats it. Moose.

She was a happy little dog always happy to be where you were. Never chased the cats, but stole their toys. She got on well with everyone and everything. Except lizards and mice and frogs, like a good Fox Terrier they had to be eradicated at all costs. She was patient with our children who were 11 and 4 when she came home. If I bought home another critter ( a habit I'm TRYING to break, but hey, someones gotta love them ) she accepted it with good grace and a look of are you NUTS? My husband called her little piggy because he said she smelled like a pig and her hair was sparse and tough. I think he was very rude. So from then on he was referred to as the bad man.

About a year ago I noticed her eyes were clouding over but she seemed to be coping so I wasn't too worried. We discovered she was completely blind when she walked straight into a pile of pavers my husband was laying.

It was quite funny watching her counting her steps to remind herself where she was. Then she would think OK I should be at the step now I'll jump, and miss. OK this time, and miss again. Finally once on the step she would wag her tail and do her little panting thing that said "See how clever I am?" She had the whole backyard mapped in her head. We tried not to move anything so she wouldn't bump into too much.

About a month ago she started to growl and bite at anything , including the other dogs, so we had her in a run around the back of the house for her own safety. My husband called her to feed her and she ran into the deck so hard she knocked herself out. Then she bit me ( my fault I put my hand down without talking to her). The last straw was when we could hear her yelping, when we went out to see what was wrong she was walking into the wall on the side of the house over and over again. The map was fading. I knew it was time So I took her for a long drive in the car, her favourite thing. She loved that, even though she was looking at the seat back and not out the window where she thought she was looking.

We finished off the drive at the vet and I explained it to him and he agreed. He asked me if I wanted to hold her and I said I'm not leaving her now, she's stood by us, I'll finish the walk with her so I held her and hugged her and cried a little. I went home to my husband who was asleep after night shift and cried like I'd never stop. He hugged me until I was finished then we went out and put her next to Jazz in the rose garden. I kissed her little head and thanked her for sharing her life with me.

So she's with the many that go before her waiting for those who will follow. I miss you Moose and the bad man says see you little piggy.