I can always remember when Lydia was born, it was on a very windy autumnal day. Rosie had gone into whelp early in the morning and inbetween quick relays of football, yes i did say football (i can only presume that was Rosie's way of easing the pain of whelping) by 11.30am Lydia was the first of her siblings to enter the world. Throughout her first 8 weeks Lydia had already started to make a big impression on us all. She was the little puppy who would sit quietly at the back of the box taking it all in, and  you could almost hear the cogs working and when all of her other brothers and sisters had finished with their bit of attention and love she would come up to you for her little bit of love and 'us time'

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Lydia was a quiet and content dog, so quiet at times that you sometimes forgot she was around.

In the show ring she always made us proud with nearly ever outing bringing back a rosette or two.

In 2002 she really did live up to her name and delighted us all by winning her Kennel Club Stud Book number and qualifying for Crufts for life at the Golden Retriever Club's Championship show under breed specialist judge Wendy Andrews. It was one of the hottest days of the year and yet Lydia just powered her way around that ring, not bothering about the heat at all. 

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Sadly though like all good things our journey together came to an end.

In November 2011 we noticed that Lydia wasn't quite her usual self . We took her to the vets for a check up and to run some blood tests and sadly our worst fears were confirmed, she had acute renal failure. Our vet told us that the her kidneys we so bad that  they were off thescale. Not something which anyone would want to hear.

She couldn't say how long we might have left with Lydia but it would be weeks rather than months....but....thankfully...Lydia being as stubborn to the end wasn't prepared to give up so easily and so we were blessed with an extra precious 9 months together before we had to help her on her way over the rainbow brdge. 

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"We didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun"

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Rest in peace sweetheart......until we meet again

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