Goodbye Tess

Rosie's mama, Tess went to the bridge yesterday.  She was 14, a good innings for a Lab.  A big, big thank you to lovely Alana and the caring vet nurses at Eastern Hills Vets.   They were so lovely and really helped mum and I say goodbye to Tess and send her off as peacefully and lovingly as possible.

Poor mum.  Both of these blithe and sweet spirits are gone now.

Tess, mum and Jock.

 I'm glad she still has Tess's grandson, Angus, to comfort her.  He'll miss his grandma too. They were great friends.

And I have Tess's daughter and granddaughter here too, and my sister Jen has her son, Kelly.

Tess had two litters.  She was a very kind mama, always looking after her babies so well.

 

Tess and mum had a lot of fun doing retrieving trials and training together.

Here they are with Tess's son, Rosie's brother, Inky, at training.  Inky became a retrieving trial champion but Tess never quite managed her two wins at all-age level to get her championship.  She had ten qualifying finishes though, so she got her All-Age Retrieving Dog title, no easy feat.

 
She and mum also got their CD and CDX in obedience.

In retrieving, she never quite had the drive she needed to push on if things got a little big hard. That was part of who she was.  She was the gentlest dog you can imagine.  She never had a beef with anyone, human or dog.  Sometimes I think she'd have liked to be an only dog, because she was a little retiring, and got pushed out by the other big doggy personalities in the family, and only really learned to ask for attention as she got older.

Tess is at the back with Freya and Tam.  Front is L to R: Rosie, Kelly, Jock, Buffy, and Kate.

But she did enjoy her big goofy grandson a lot.

She learned to be positively snuggly in her old age.  My two younger nieces got on with her really well and she loved them especially too.  They'll be sad that she's gone.

She liked a cuddle when she was over at our place being minded too. 

She was very much a part of our family and will continue to be so through the legacy of her pups and grandpups.

When a dog has been old for a long time, it can be hard to remember when they were young and bouncy.  She had her silly times too. 

And she was a very lively and alert dog for most of her life.

We'll all miss her sweet spirit very much, especially mum.

Run free, sweet Tessa Bessa.  xxx