Poppy Bell

THE SADDEST OF NEWS (21.5.2020)

Ali wrote with the very sad news “My lovely Poppy went to the Bridge this morning.

As you know, Poppy has spent the last 12 years bouncing round like a puppy, so it was a shock a couple of months ago when she suddenly became unwell. The Vet diagnosed pancreatitis and we tried every medication going to get her well but it was not to be.

In true Poppy style, though, she refused to give in, despite losing so much weight and being super model thin. She still enjoyed shorter daily walks and chasing rabbits and squirrels. The Vet was astonished at how resilient she had been and it’s testament to Pop’s strength of character that she truly didn’t want to go but her body could not sustain her mind.

If it had been willpower alone she’d be better now. I was lucky that the Vet had a set up where I could go in with Poppy and sit on the floor with her while she went. She would have hated going in her own as the Vet was her least favourite place, closely followed by the dog groomers…..

I’m devastated, obviously. Pop was a true and fiercely loyal friend to me and I shall miss her terribly. I always thought she would make really old bones as she had that young mindset. Poppy was the first dog I’d ever had from a puppy. She was a little so and so you may recall!!

I saw on the website, when Poppy was really ill, that her brother Bailey had crossed the Bridge recently so, when I was sitting with her as she went, I did tell her that Bailey was waiting for her along with Kelly so that would be reassuring for her.

I miss her so much. Especially with working from home for the last few months it was so intense with her being ill. One day, she would eat lots and I would think she was improving then, the next day, she went downhill. It really was a rollercoaster.

Sadly, though, she couldn’t overcome it. Her mind wanted to keep going which is what made it a really difficult decision in the end. The vet thought she may have a cancer somewhere but they couldn’t find it. Poor Pops.

Pauline advised Ali to try to remember the happy times and the wonderful life she gave her and said that Poppy was a very lucky girl as things could have easily been very different for the whole litter.

Ali said “Thank you to IRR for letting me have her and to Joy for being so lovely and kind to Poppy. We have many fantastic memories and she had a good life.

I will miss her so very much”.

History

One of the most unlikely coloured of Kaleigh babies, we wondered who and what was her Dad? We suspected Kaleigh may have been mated by, at least two dogs and possibly more.

POPPY is a very sweet puppy who is all black with a small white patch on her chin. She has beautiful deep blue eyes. She looks just like a black labrador puppy except for the chin. She often sits and looks around. She was the first to ‘ask’ to be picked up and certainly enjoys being cuddled. She likes to play with the other pups and enjoys her food. She is very cute.

Poppy is named after a flower, like her sisters Jasmine, Lily, Orchid and little Rose, whilst her brothers were all named after trees. She is one of the surprise puppies born to the very beautiful and very young golden retriever, Kaleigh.

Puppy Diary

Poppy is a very sweet puppy who is all black with a small white patch on her chin. She has beautiful deep blue eyes. She looks just like a black labrador puppy except for the chin.

She often sits and looks around. She was the first to ‘ask’ to be picked up and certainly enjoys being cuddled.

She likes to play with the other pups and enjoys her food. She is very cute.

Baby Pictures

Poppy’s Diary

First Week

Poppy now has a middle name – Poppy Houdini Price is her full name 🙂 She got out of her playpen a few days after being adopted and also managed to squeeze through the stair gate to go upstairs. Her owner says:

“She’s heavy now to carry around! She is so clever, she will sit when told for a treat! How impressive is that. As you know I’ve never had a puppy before so this is all new to us. But I can honestly say she is really clever, I’ve never had such a clever dog, you can see her little mind ticking over and she thinks things through and then she does it!! She works things out in her head, and she still does that really cute thing where she puts her head to one side. Kelly is like a puppy now too, they are so very funny together, good friends and playmates.

Am interested to know how the other puppies are doing ~ hope Poppy is big enough? I do worry but she certainly seems healthy enough, her coat is lovely and shiny and her appetite is voracious! I think she must definitely have lab in her as the lab greedy gene is kicking in!”

13th November 2007

Poppy is growing well – 18lbs today – I hope that’s about right?

She had her second injection yesterday and was a very brave girl.

She can go out next Monday ( and walk herself!!) which is great. She’s so heavy now to carry around and she is desperate to get down – she wriggles and barks and whinges on to try and get down. She’s a very clever girl as you know and loves her best friend Kelly, though she does torture her!!!! Kelly seems to enjoy it though and is so patient with Poppy.

Poppy has vets again next Monday for her rabies inoculation, this is the first step to getting her pet passport so she can travel with us.

Puppy classes start a week on Saturday and should be fun. She is still learning new things all the time – she can sit and do paw now. You have to tell her a few times though as she gets so excited at the prospect of a treat that she forgets herself and starts jumping!

She is truly a lovely, clever girl and I’m really glad she is here. Kelly is having a whale of a time too, they tear around like lunatics and Poppy is an awful tease.

They get up to mischief though – both of them – Poppy has brought out Kelly’s naughty puppy streak I think ~ they ate Poppy’s bed yesterday. Just shreds of it left on the floor, they were unobserved for an hour and both looked a bit guilty afterwards. They also like digging a lot too!

Poppy’s hair seems to be getting longer too, more like a retriever, so although she is black her coat is lovely and glossy, though she’s not too fussy on being brushed at the moment she just wants to eat the brush!

14th November 2007

15th January 2008

Poppy is enjoying her life with Kelly – both of them are very good. Poppy seems a different build to some of the other pups, she seems longer and leaner. And to be fair to Kelly Pops was sat forward a bit in the photo so I think that made her look a bit bigger. They only sit so nicely when bribery is on the cards.

Training is coming along well, Poppy went off her lead for the first time on Saturday. We took her to the big football field near us, no one else was around, no other dogs or anything so we let her go. She was brilliant, came back every time and just wanted to tear around really. In fact, she was better at coming back than Kelly, she dashed back when we called her then sat nicely to wait for a treat. Bribery – it’s the only way!!! We managed to take some really good “action shots” so we’ll have to get them on the computer then send them onto you – v funny.

Had a look at the updates of the puppies on the website – it’s lovely to see them all and hear their stories. There are definitely many similarities between them, plant pots and socks being the predominant two I think!

Poppy’s got most of her adult teeth now I think, though I’ve only found one and a half baby teeth! She still looks funny but I’m sure she’ll ‘grow into her teeth’ eventually. At the moment she looks like she’s found a set of dentures and is wearing them!!!

6th February 2008

I hope you’re all well and recovered from Christmas now. Here is an update about what Poppy is getting up to. To follow are some pictures of Poppy with Kelly, having a wonderful time. Ahhh.

She is lovely, full of beans with a very naughty streak! She is so cute though, v difficult to reprimand her when she is naughty. She has mastered the stair gate – leaps over it both ways, both up and down.

Poppy is turning out to be a very good guard dog. She has a really deep bark when someone is outside – very different from her morning “I’m pleased to see you” yapping noise!

The man come to fix the tumble drier today and the way she goes on when there is someone different here you’d think she was a fierce huge guard dog!!!

Both her and Kelly are still best of friends, they are so funny to watch together, they have such fun and get into some right states, particularly they enjoy digging and with the wet weather we’ve had you can only begin to imagine the havoc.

Poppy still looks like she is wearing dentures – we can only hope that she will ‘grow’ into her teeth eventually. At the moment she is like the canine equivalent of Janet Street Porter!

13th April 2008

14th April 2008

15th May 2008

Poppy playing football!

21st April 2009

Kelly and Poppy are very good girls. They have just come back from a nice Easter holiday in France. They absolutely love it there as we have a huge field that they can tear around in and there is lots of exploring to do!! They are very good at travelling and just go to sleep in the car without any problems at all.

Dare I say it, but I think the very naughty Poppy may be starting to calm down a little now. She hasn’t eaten anything she shouldn’t have (like wallpaper/clothes /socks/her plastic dog bed/various garden plants and shrubs etc) for some time now. I really thought she was never going to grow out of it, but it seems she is – at long last! Thank goodness!

I don’t know if Poppy has much more growing to do, she isn’t as big as Kelly but is very lean, not an ounce of fat on her. She is an extremely fast dog and loves to chase her ball. We go through so many tennis balls it’s unreal. She’s like a greyhound tearing after the ball, and is very good at ‘retrieving’, though not so good at drop!

Kelly is such a lovely girl, very affectionate and just wants to be fussed all day. She still loves being groomed but she’s still a bit mad and does enjoy going “Kelly bonkers” every now and then, tearing round in circles likes the devil’s on her tail. Since Poppy came she is in touch with her “inner puppy” and they get up to all sorts of mischief together.