Kirislin

My pretty baby, all uncertain, wondering what's going on. I think overall she had fun though. and brother Arkey on the table getting the once over.

She's a fair dinkum show dog now! Last week Neko went to 2 shows and won her class. On Saturday she also beat her brother so went up against all the other puppies toy group. Struttin' her stuff with Daddy Long Legs a crash course in how to stack because I haven't taught her well enough at home. and the final line up.

8/52

very cool, I wish they'd ask for whippets and/or Iggies.

I'm sorry, Rest in Peace Zoe old girl.

Thankyou all for your kind words, it really does help to ease the pain knowing others understand she's not "just a dog".

At a local cafe in my town.

best wishes for Panto.

I never used to, but I've just come back from meeting a friend at a cafe. I took Feather and Neko and she took her snowshoe cat! Needless to say, we got alot of attention from passers by. :laugh:

I refer to my whippets as Meerwhippets.

Maybe they weren't talking about dogs, maybe this is what they meant. :laugh: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NsvFqay4GXs/TVEHGAGBrYI/AAAAAAAACps/KNx2XGbWNm8/s1600/World%2527s+Most+Hairy+People+Photos+%25288%2529.jpg

Yes it's a wonderful that the digital age has us given such beautiful images, especially yours Kirislin. As I've said before your photos are so amazing I feel like I could reach through the screen and touch them. Right now I wish I could too, I've just been gazing at her sweet face.

Kibah is the first dog or pet of mine who's died since I got myself a digital camera. I find alot more comfort from looking at photos of her on my computer than I would flicking through little 5x7's.

Kibah looking at the camera saying "when's it our turn" Happy times together

I'll miss all this kind of silly stuff. She used to do this alot.

I have surprised myself that I am accepting and at peace with her passing. Yes, I'm sad and I know I'll cry some more for knowing I will never see her and cuddle her again, but after seeing the xrays and that blood today I know she had no more time left. It does help to know so many understand too.

:laugh: Welcome!

I've just had a bit of a shock. There must have been much more wrong with Kibah than showed. I've just buried her but as soon as I picked her up to wrap her in her shroud alot of blood came out of her nose or mouth, and I mean alot. I wasn't grossed out by it, but I was shocked. I think perhaps she might have also had a tumor in her lungs. As far as I know, it never caused her pain while she was alive, but if her neck and spine hadn't brought her down, this soon would have. I feel it was good she went when she did, not a moment too soon.

thankyou all. A horrible sad day yesterday was eased by friends. The night before I'd told Nekos breeder that Kibah wasn't well, but I thought I'd have a bit more time with her. Yesterday I rang him to let him know that her time had come sooner than I'd hoped and bless him, he surprised me by saying he had taken the day off work to come and be with me. He's got a good job and doesn't take sickies lightly so it was last thing I'd expected. He got here in time to say goodbye to Kibie and then went and dug her grave for me in soil like concrete. He's a slender elegant man with a build more suited to a modelling catwalk than wielding a pick and shovel, so it was hard work for him. We didn't have the right tools and he'd only got about half way when I rang some other friends who came with a crow bar and finished the job. My friend then brought out a bottle of French champagne and the 4 of us stood out there dirty and dusty and toasted Kibahs life. It was a bitter sweet day and good to be reminded that I have some truly wonderful friends. Iggy Mum will come today and we will bury Kibah together. She loved her too as one of her own. I'm going to get a fig tree to plant on her grave, and not just any fig tree. I'd planned on buying a Black Genoa, but my friends Italian neighbour has a tree he smuggled out from Italy in the 1950's and has offered to get a cutting or shoot off it. I suspect if someone went to all that trouble to bring a tree to Australia it will be a good eating one. Kibah loved fruit so it will be fitting that she will be buried under it.

Farewell my precious little blue whippet. Kibah, Hydale Blue Wren. The dog I'd longed for, for so many years, and who was all I could ever have hoped or imagined. Tiny, petite, courageous, feisty, loving and so much more. You weren't shown because you aren't the style of the whippets in the ring these days. You are of the old style, small, curvy, compact, deep chested with that beautiful shapely top and underline, and probably small enough to be hidden under a poachers coat, as was the original intention for whippets. Racing was what you were good at and as Pocket Rocket, in your first year of racing you were only beaten once. I will keep your many racing trophies and be reminded of those happy days and how proud I was of you, beating dogs so much bigger and never giving up. What am I to do now if I get a mouse or spider in the house, no one else here can deal with them like you did. You were clever too, learning to understand magpie language and knew their word for FOX! The instant you heard them calling a warning you'd bolt outside on full alert barking your own challenge and sending the intruder packing. None of my other dogs have worked that one out, even now, with you teaching them all those years. You were my little native herbalist whippet too, teaching the others what plants to eat, when all the other dogs at the park only knew to eat grass, you knew there are other plants that are healthy and good to eat. Perhaps it's why you were so healthy for so long. funny quirky little girl, thankyou for being the amazing little dog you were, and thankyou for giving me your daughter Feather. She and I will miss you.

Dear Bella, much loved and she will be missed. She was a lucky little girl indeed to have such loving people in her life.

It's early morning here 3.45am and I cannot sleep. I watched Kibah closely yesterday as she moved around and it became clear to me the medication wasn't covering the pain. I rang the vet and arranged for him to come to my home to let her go. Not long before he arrived she was laying down and started to whimper and it made me know for sure I was making the right and kindest choice. Kibahs passing was so gentle, she was sedated first and when that last injection was given she just quietly stopped living with no clear transition. I hope it was as peaceful and easy for her as it looked. I will bury her today when it gets light and I will plant a fruit tree on her grave. She loved fruit so she can nourish my tree and I will think of her, my mighty killer of mouses, my spider slayer, wonderful, brave, funny, loving little girl, Kibah, Hydale Blue Wren, when that tree bears it's bounty.

She slept reasonably well I think but I didn't. I kept one ear open for any sounds from her. I initially crated her in my room but she started to cry just before midnight. I think it was just because she wanted to get out, not from pain. I let her out and she wandered into the family room and settled down on some fleecy blankets which I suspect are rather like sleeping on a cloud. I decided to leave her there but it meant I had to shut my bedroom door which I never do normally, to stop her from coming in and jumping on the bed while I was asleep. I want to prevent her from jumping on anything from now on. I'm going to take the others for a walk soon but I'll leave her at home. I think she's had her last walk at the park for this lifetime.

I am so sorry I haven't responded sooner. You've been through a rough time, with so much heartache. It is wonderful that she was still well enough to enjoy her last day with you, digging in the sand. You let her go at the right time, when she still had a bit of fun in her, and didn't wait until she was just misery. I hope you can feel comfortable knowing you have done right by her.

I dont have many lenses. For whippet, (and now IG ) action, which is pretty fast I love the 70-200 2.8. I have often wished for the 100-400 for the whippet races but I've never used it. I love my 50mm prime for closer shots and use that alot in my house, which is quite dark. I've also used my 100mm macro when we used to have our whippet fun days there and found it pretty good.