Archie Bartholomew-Fletcher

2006 – 26/3/2018

FOR ARCHIE

Kerrigan remembers  “I always wanted a Dalmatian for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure why I wanted one. I always thought they looked like a dot-to-dot picture of a dog and I loved dot-to-dot books when I was a child. I think they should come with a health warning though. Archie arrived at our home about 11 years ago. The first thing he did was run out into our 7 acre field with the other dogs. In that field there was one tiny young tree growing in the middle. It was only a sapling and not very big. You could get your one hand around its trunk and still have a bit of space left. I don’t know how this happened but Archie ran head first into this young tree and he seemed to step back dazed as if to say ‘where did that come from?’ I should’ve guessed what life was going to be like from this moment on. We never had a dull moment with him.

Archie came to us a very anxious dog and was not easy to look after. We always had to stay at least two steps ahead or else he usually landed in trouble but he did have a very loving nature when he was relaxed at home. We found a little lamb once on the road with a broken leg and Archie looked after him. Licking him to clean him and tend his wound (possibly because he tasted of lamb but it looked lovely watching him care for this tiny soul).

Once, he managed to jump up on my Dad,  who was wearing a dazzling white T-shirt, and get two muddy paws right on my dad’s chest. It looked like my Dad had just been groped by a chimney sweep.

When Starlight arrived, he took a shine to her straight away. He would be constantly playing tug-o-war with her till they both ended in a heap exhausted. She really loved him and vice versa.

But my favourite time with Archie was at the Golden Retriever gatherings where he would love to run around with the other dogs and always seemed to be enjoying himself. On the lead he was a very different dog altogether. 

About a year ago, he suffered a back trauma and I found him on the floor unable to walk. We still don’t know how it happened but, from that moment, his back was never the same and he slowly started to lose control of his bowels. Over that year we watched him deteriorate with his back arching and his tail looking sad and limp. He struggled to walk and eventually he stopped going out and spent most of his day curled up sleeping. It was sad to watch and impossible to know how much he was suffering. The vet felt the kindest thing was to help him along on his next journey without us. Our spotty boy was put to sleep on the 26th March 2018. At this moment, our home really lacks his presence and seems quiet and calm. The girls (Starlight, Romy and Bizzi) are all very quiet and I do get the feeling they are missing him. I know I am”.