Derry Lane

THE HARDEST, SADDEST NEWS EVER (16.9.2019)

Jed writes “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to inform you that Derry, who has been a huge and loving part of our family for the past 11 years, has passed away to the Rainbow Bridge.

We rehomed Derry in early 2008 and it really upsets me having to write this. He has been such a character and this has been the hardest few days of my life.

Derry had been gradually losing the ability to use his back legs and he had suffered a few strokes which are believed to have left him unable to use his front legs as well.

I am now nearly 23 years old, and we got Derry when I was only 11yrs old.He leaves behind his best friend, Harry, who is an American bull pointer,. They have been brothers since Kaley, a Labrador Retriever, crossed the Bridge in 2012.

Derry passed on Monday evening, 16.9.2019, and this was quite possibly the hardest news I have ever had as he has been with my family, and myself, since I was a child.

Derry will be sorely missed. He was a beautiful beast, who made his presence known. Not having him with us feels so empty.

I will forever cherish the time we had, and we will always have Derry in our minds and hearts.

He was a fantastic boy and he had such an amazing life. He has lived by the sea since we got him.

I hope Derry had the best life he could, and I thank IRR so much for allowing us to have such a beautiful boy in our lives.

We will always love him”.
Jed, Liz, Steve and Harry x

HISTORY

In 2008, Derry was a totally gorgeous 18mth old Golden Retriever. He had been taken to the vet to be put to sleep “because he jumped up on a child” when trying to say “hello”. The horrified vet notified Sandie and he went into foster with her immediately.

He was castrated whilst with Sandie but complications meant he had to stay longer with her than intended so it was then incredibly hard for her to say “goodbye” to this most adorable fellow. Sandie found him to be very obedient and very friendly towards people and dogs alike. After arriving in the UK, he stayed with Pauline in Somerset and, again, proved to be a big hit

with everyone, being especially gentle around children. He integrated totally with all the other dogs and wasn’t an ounce of trouble. He was fully housetrained but not used to walking on alead. He understood “sit”, “down”, “paw” , “come” and responded well to his name. He had, clearly, been very well looked after and, obviously, loved which makes his owners’ decision all the more unbelievable.

He then went to a forever home in Cornwall with Liz and family. Early reports were that he and Kaley (Lab Ret) were already friends and he was getting used to the three dog-friendly cats.

Thankfully, he had really fallen on his feet.

DERRY 2 YEARS LATER UPDATE

Liz’s son Jed writes. “Derry has settled in so well, he has a basket full of 24 cuddly toys !!! He loves playing with them. Him and Kaley (13 year old Lab retriever) are the best team together, they get up to lots of mischief despite Kaley’s age!! His familiarity of the lead has improved loads since we got him, he loves having walks along the coast (even though he runs around muddy water along the path).

Anyway thank you for letting us know about Derry, we love him loads, he’s like a big polar bear, (he likes getting cuddles).”