I remember telling a friend back in 2010 "I have something to look after for the next 15 years"! We didn't get to 15 years, but just 4 mths shy of 14 last Wednesday 27th March! This is a time lapse of frontal photos of Roxie aging from 2010 to 2024. Unfortunately Roxie passed away recently.

The day I fell in love with Roxie I wasn't planning on getting a puppy. Thursday 26th August 2010, I went with my mam to help her pick out a labrador puppy for her and my dad! I picked up the cutest bundle that had an unusual hair ridge growing the opposite way down her nose!! "Look at how cute this one is with the hairline!" I said to mam but she was already after fallen for a lighter coloured ball of squidge! "No, I like this one" she replied. A little while later after playing with the puppies she shows the farmer which one she is taking! Then to both our surprise I say "And I'm going to take this one!" Having nothing prepared and having to return to a different county that same day where I was working/living I told the farmer I'd be back on Saturday to pick her up! Saturday came and she was reunited her with her sister and so began Roxie and Sasha! The following day she had her first girls lunch with a couple of friends in Wexford, that was the beginning of her coming everywhere with me!

After just the first week at 7 weeks old she was able to sit, lie down, high five and 'speak'! At 11 weeks old she was able to sit still with treats on her paws and not take them until told! By then I realised what a very special pup I had! It was just the two of us for a long time, living out in the country sticks in a little granny flat in but seeing her sister every weekend when we came home! We had an unbreakable bond and she was the most perfect dog! There was nobody who knew me, didn't know Roxie! Any little concern I was at the vets door! At 28, I was fully responsible for a life other than my own for the first time ever! She taught me loyalty, responsibility and selflessness. If not for people but wholly for her! There was nothing I wouldn't do for her and nothing she wouldn't do for me! Her trust in me was explicit.

After time my long work hours became even longer! Not only affecting my health but also Roxie's well being having to be home alone for so long during the day! Even nipping home during a late workday to leave her out and say hi I knew it wasn't enough! When I returned home late one day to a chewed hole in the couch by my perfect dog I made the decision we needed a better work/life balance and so made the decision to move back home to my old job! On our last night in our country granny flat she went mental barking and growling looking at the window in our bedroom in the middle of the night! The next morning I learnt a neighbours shed had been broken into and there was no doubt in my mind the thief/s had been sniffing around outside our little house only to move on when Roxie was alerted!

Back in our home town she was never as happy to be living with her sister and people in and out all day and having me around more! Even though we always had so many of our own adventures this was when she started inviting herself onto my dad and Sasha's adventures! She knew when they would be leaving first thing in the morning and be waking me up whinging at my bedroom door to get out! Of course dad couldn't leave her behind so brought her too! Nobody has ever walked Roxie in her entire life only my dad or I! I trusted nobody else to take her off! My first real fright with her when she was aged 2, early one Sunday morning and she suddenly screaming in agony! Raced her to an emergency vet who I'd never met before and he says smiling, while giving her an injection, "This dog has never known pain before!" Basically for what was wrong with her she was completely over reacting like she was dying a death! Her molly-coddled life had flashed before her eyes!

We would go on to meet my now husband and his cocker spaniel Charlie! She was thrown into a life of moving again and having a step-dad and step-dogsister but she loved them both even if she now had to sleep in a dog bed and no longer slept with me! When Darren and I got engaged, looking at venues I had one request "you must allow my dog at the ceremony, she's going to be ring bearer"! I wasn't getting married without her and it was my only stipulation when we booked our venue! She took everything in her stride including raising 3 babies with me! I knew she had the most amazing temperment but how she was with babies and children she was just incredible! There was no animal or person she'd meet that she didn't accept immediately with her sweet nature! She only radiated kindness, not a bad bone in her body! By now she was already after appearing in the newspaper a few times making her mark. Little did she know intime she would also appear on tv and having videos published over the years for millions of viewers to enjoy. Her clever tricks and antics with Charlie and Indie the cat would become popular. She still loved the odd sleepover at her nanny and grandad's and visited her sister all the time! Celebrating their birthday together every year on the 15th July!

It was a year and a half ago our vet suggested cutting down her long walks as her back legs were just starting to not keep up. In my denial I thought nothing of it being the start to anything as she was only 12 I told myself. Early last summer she contracted a very stubborn UTI, months of constant squatting would go on to intensify her arthritis in her back legs! Finally after months and months of different drugs and different vets the UTI was under control but now we had a bigger issue! By November last year her back legs had started to deteriorate at such speed! We were down to 15 minute walks in our estate, monthly injection, daily drugs, changes to food and adaptions to homelife to make anything that bit easier for her! She went between having good weeks and bad weeks! Her heart is healthy and she's not in any pain I would tell myself! The denial was real even though we lived in the vets at this stage! Finally in February this year reality hit me like a train! I knew Roxie inside out, I knew any tiny thing that was out of the ordinary! Sat around the kitchen table for my mam's birthday cake, Roxie suddenly let out a howl while lying in her bed for first time in her life! We went straight into the vet to be told the last words I wanted to hear! "There's fluid on her lungs"! We started heart drugs immediately then few weeks later we added the final heart drug there was. This was our last chance! I knew nothing would prevent or stop it but I prayed it would buy her much longer time! She's not in pain and she is happy I'd tell myself!

Two weeks ago she had a bad week where she just didn't leave her bed only to toilet with our assistance, wasn't eating her food again and no happiness in her face! Then I heard that low howl again, she was now in discomfort! She was on everything that was possibly available at this stage! I knew making the next vet appointment for her arthritis injection it wasn't going to be for that! Her heart had enough and so had she! I knew deep down if I arrived downstairs one morning to her gone, alone and had been suffering all night I'd never forgive myself! At the vets he gave her injections to make her "the best she can get" so we could have a day or so to say goodbye! The next morning, last Wednesday 27th, I came down the stairs to see a perked up head in the bed! I reminded myself what the vet said "be under no illusion to how she will be"! We started preserving memories of her that morning as a family, pawprints and her beautiful fur! However, there was nowhere else I was going to spend her last day but out home! She managed a little walk on the beach with me and spent the day up home preoccupied with love! Later that evening we came back into meet the vet in our house! To say it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life! While holding her face and kissing her, every part of me wanted to scream out "Stop, I've changed my mind"! But then the words of that emergency vet from years ago have always played in my mind "This dog has never known pain before" and I wasn't going to let her be in it now!

Roxie was with me in my 20s, 30s and 40s! My kids have never known a life without her! ❤️ We will miss her beyond words!