Footnote by 'Her Indoors'

This is the first and last time I shall appear, in person, on Rolo’s blog and I hope he will forgive the intrusion.

            Since his passing, I have been considering what to do with it. It doesn’t feel right for Teddy to blog in Rolo’s name, after all, he’s his own dog, but we don’t want to lose it, as it details the ups and downs of Rolo’s life over many years, and formed the basis of his first book, ‘The Last Rolo’. So, I’ve decided to leave it, with this footnote, and Teddy has started his very own, squeaky clean, new blog at www.teddytheborderterrier.blogspot.com. His voice is different to Rolo’s but, in its own way I hope, is just as entertaining, so please follow his exploits as he works to fill the very big paw-prints left in Rolo’s wake.

            If you are visiting this blog for the first time, perhaps after reading Rolo’s books, you will be disappointed and perhaps a little sad to find that Rolo is no longer with us. Please don’t be. He was a whirlwind of a dog, naughty, opinionated, noisy but huge fun and he lived, for all of his sixteen years and three months, to the absolute maximum. His life was a triumph of non-conformity, creativity in its broadest sense, and pursuit of whatever made him happy, regardless. Scroll back through his years of blog entries and enjoy!

            If you come to this blog as a regular reader, despair not, Teddy’s blog will continue the journey.

            Being owned by Rolo has been quite an experience. From the first time we saw him when he made his unerring way towards his ‘Juniors’ and climbed on board, choosing us, he has been a large presence in our lives. Whatever his concerns, I’m not going to turn him into Saint Rolo; he could be, and often was, a little bu**er! I have despaired, I have cried, I have raged, but most of all, I have laughed. Particular low points must be him escaping, in the run-up to Christmas, into next-doors chickens, the incident with the grass snake feigning death to escape him, the escapade into the other next-door garden when he ate a dead bunny and then regurgitated it in instalments through the following day and night, and the time he ate his way through half a bag of pelleted chicken manure, sicked it up during our barbeque, and then, when we scattered and buried the rest around our plants, digging that up and eating it too! Oh and the ASBO from the Royal Mail…… the shame!

            It’s not that he wasn’t trained; he knew right from wrong, he just always put his own interests first, and when weighing up what was the better option, he didn’t allow our displeasure to colour his judgement. You couldn’t leave him on his own in a room, like a small child he had to be supervised. He was into everything.

            On the plus side, Rolo was bought as a family pet and he always loved children. After all, they liked the same things he did. As far as any dog is ever 100% trustworthy with youngsters, Rolo was, and I never once saw him grumpy. If it all got a bit much, he just removed himself, out of reach. He was completely obsessed with playing ball and followed us around the garden dropping it on our feet, in the watering can, on plants, anywhere in fact where he might get it noticed enough for it to be thrown. He had a similar frisbee obsession and used to thrust it into the back of our legs given half a change. He was indefatigable, stoical, and bold to the point of recklessness.

            He was also food obsessed. This was a drawback in that he ate everything, edible or not, but it was also a plus; he could be bribed. He had surprisingly good recall as he knew he’d get a biscuit if he came back promptly, and few things in life could compete with a biscuit.

            Like all good, long relationships, the more you invest and love, the more it hurts when it is torn asunder. But Rolo’s death was in the natural order of things and his passing was very gentle, in my arms, surrounded by love. He gave us his all, and in return, we gave  him everything it was possible to give, in order for a small, naughty dog to live his life to the full, and that, he certainly did. I’m proud he was part of our lives.

I was never keen on his licking; I knew where he'd been.....

We had so much fun with his books

Rolo had the casting vote with Teddy, but, amazingly, they got on well