Mattie Peacock

THE BOYS ARE RE-UNITED (7.1.2022)

Mattie and Buster are back together again at Rainbow Bridge.

Their Mum, Diane, told us “Mattie, our Golden Retriever, passed away peacefully on 7th January 2022 at the ripe old age of 18 years and 4 months! He appears on your ‘Tales from Rainbow Bridge’ page of your website with his brother Buster who passed away in 2017 at the age of 13.
 
When Buster passed away we never thought that Mattie would live as long as he did as Buster was the one who took the lead and looked after his brother whilst Mattie was a quiet beautiful boy with a big heart who loved his family life. He was a gentle soul with not a nasty bone in his body.
 
We rescued the boys through your organisation in 2005 and although we did not originally want to rescue two dogs it was one of the best things we ever did.
 
Mattie was fit and healthy right up until he passed away –  walking daily, eating like a puppy and being mischievous, with his only problems being cataracts and an ear infection. Mattie still loved his holidays and walking on the beach with our last holiday together being in June 2021.
 
One of the things that we believe helped with Mattie’s longevity was having Daisy, our son’s dog, around to see him and walk with him. Daisy, who is a Labrador, was also rescued through you some 8 years ago as a puppy and we believe that having her around helped to mend Mattie’s broken heart when Buster passed away.

We thought you might like this update on the story which covers one of the first pair of Golden Retrievers that you brought over from Ireland”.

We know the family will miss their beloved Mattie very much after having so many amazing years together with him. Our hearts go out to them as we can well imagine and share their pain but what wonderful lives both of the dogs had. They definitely couldn’t have asked for more after such a rocky start in Ireland and we simply can’t thank Diane and Robert enough for sticking with them at the start and then for adoring them and giving both boys such happy and fulfilled lives.

Rest peacefully together Mattie and Buster.

REMEMBERING MATTIE

Diane said, “As you can see from the photographs Mattie never looked his age which always amazed people and our groomer Maria would always say ‘he’s like an Ever Ready battery as he just goes on and on”.

THE HISTORY OF TWO LOVELY BROTHERS

Matt and Buster always lived together and were quite a handful when they arrived from Ireland.

Unfortunately, we well remember 2006 was a crazy year with so many dogs needing homes and us unable to say “no”. With IRR still being in it’s infancy, we were the blind leading the blind and, although we tried to help where we could, there were always other dogs needing our help.

Diane and Robert bravely went ahead and adopted them and, despite their naughtiness, loved them to bits. They, clearly, worked hard on training them so, when the two gorgeous boys attended the 2007 Reunion in Bath, they looked to be very well behaved as they walked around the show.

Fortunately, in the case of Matt and Buster, we had managed to find the perfect pairing to ensure happy lives for the boys in their brilliant forever home.

This pic is of Mattie and Buster lying at the top of our stairs which is what they used to love to do as they could see everything that was going on in the house.

MATTIE LOST BUSTER (BOO) (EASTER 2017)

Diane says “Buster left us in April 2017 and it was a terrible shock. It was very hard for us both and for Mattie who had never known a time without his brother.

They were very popular dogs everywhere they went. The boys were given nicknames by Sylvia who lives opposite us. She called them Coffee and Cream and she would always stop and talk to them and fuss them whenever they were out which, of course, they loved. What is amazing about Sylvia is she’s 90yrs old !! The boys somehow knew she was an older lady and they never once tried to jump up at her. They just sat in front of her, bums down and tails wagging waiting for their fuss.

Robert found a picture of Buster alone which was a rarity as most photos are of them both together, He loved cleaning out empty packets!, He also loved opening Christmas presents and he would undo a present in seconds.

We lost Buster just before Easter 2017. He had ruptured his spleen and it was so hard for us as he didn’t show us how ill he was. Fortunately, we have a really good vet who made him comfortable and free of pain.

They gave us time as a family to make that awful decision. It is the hardest thing you have to do but the vet came to our house and Boo went to sleep with us and his brother in the home he loved. He knew nothing but love all his life with us and his passing was the same”.

Our darling Boo is flying high with the angels and will be waiting for us at Rainbow Bridge.

A YEAR ON AND REMEMBERING THEIR ARRIVAL

Despite the regular company of their son’s young Labrador, Daisy, a year on, Diane and Robert decided Mattie might benefit from another dog to share his home and that was when they contacted IRR again. This meant we were able to catch up on the news including the sad passing of Buster.

Diane remembers “Some things stick in your memory and this takes me back to the day Buster and Mattie arrived at our house. It was fairly unusual for two dogs to be re-homed together back then so we had given it a considerable amount of thought before we contacted IRR with our enquiry but we never imagined things would happen so fast..

The way the dogs arrived was not as we had envisaged but IRR were desperate for fosterers and particularly for people who could take two together. It was on a Sunday in November and we were travelling back from London in the car after watching England play rugby the previous day, having stayed there overnight.

I had a telephone call from Lorraine and we were asked whether we could foster the dogs, with a view to adopt, as the two young boys were too lively for the current fosterer’s much older and partially blind dog. We agreed and asked when they were thinking of us having them only to be told it needed to be that day!

So, the boys did arrive later the same day, literally bursting into the house and announcing “we’re here”. The first thing Buster did was to go into the lounge and mark his territory up our new bay window curtains! They came with a brush and one lead between them and they had, clearly, never been walked on it.

What a shock but they were the best diet ever for us both. The rest is history as, once we had them for a few days, there was no way we could ever let them go as we knew they had found their forever home with us.

I have trawled through the many photographs we have of the boys and here are our favourite recollections of our boys and their lives together:-

Holidays were something they loved as they adored the attention they received from all the other holidaymakers. Mattie, who is now 14yrs, has just returned from a holiday with us in Bude, Cornwall, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We would like to thank IRR for letting us have the two boys that have brought so much happiness into our lives”.