Brandy, it was Winter 2000, and we drove over a snowy pass with Frosty the Snowman playing on the radio to get you. This skinny little runt of a pup emerged and for one minute I hesitated, but just a minute my darling. From that skinny little puppy you developed into the most beautiful loving and handsome Cairn Terrier. When your friend Jamie crossed the bridge you had a broken heart until you stayed with Uncle Steve and saw the Westie next door, then you were fine... I think maybe you thought Jamie had just moved on. Your new friend Scotty came into the family, and as all our other pets you welcomed him with your usual kind and generous loving nature. Scotty pined for you so much you know. We tried to get Scotty a friend of his own age, but in England we found small rescue dogs were hard to get, so in the end we purchased a little puppy called Panda. Brandy, Panda is a special, slightly flawed little dog, and I am sure you found him for us, knowing we would love him and take care of him. You had such a wonderful nature, but at the same time you were a little toughie. You came through a double cruciate liagament operation, then you got Cushings disease, and even coped with that, and once we got the medication right you barely noticed you had it. As if that wasn't enough for any dog you got calcium deposits in your eye, but we spotted them in time to save your sight. You were due back at the vets on Thursday, and I rang on Wednesday and said I wasn't happy with your eye. Had we waited that one day its likely your cornea would have blown. As it was, at the grand age of 16 you had one eye repaired with a lens which left you with some sight, and the other repaired with a patch, which meant you really couldn't see out of that eye. As we understand it, a vet told us he was attending a course about corneal grafts at the specialist centre you attended and your eyes were used as part of the training, so even now you are going on to help other little animals and their owners. Again, you managed but really now your only requirements were three square meals a day and a cosy bed. Scotty began looking after you, and much as you would like a cosy bed if one of the cats was on your bed you went to the other one rather than move them. You didn't deserve what happened next Brandy. Just before we were due to go on holiday you were diagnosed with Lymphoma, and we were told it was bad, and you wouldn't last but a few weeks. We left for holiday, hoping to have you over Christmas, and in the first days we were away we were told you had the more treatable type of lymphoma, and the recommendation was that we let you have the initial treatment to keep you going and we could decide further when we got home. Then, we received another message that the cancer was spreading fast and you had days to live. We begged the tour operator to fly us home, but they said they had no seats. We were in a place with not that many flights and poor wifi, and they were not prepared to help us past checking their own flight. Had they got us home we would have been with you for your last few days, as it was, you died, alone, at the vetinary hospital. All that holiday we sent you thoughts and wishes, and on the flight home I suddenly started crying at 4.30am. That was about the time you died (just hours before we got back) and I would like to think that your spirit came to visit me to say goodbye. Brandy, I am so sorry. I loved you so much. We called you our Brave Little Man. You had the love and admiration of everybody. I hope you are now with Jamie, and Cally, and Casper, and our furry family who went before you as well. Big hugs my little man. Sorry this took so long, but even now its breaking my heart to type it.

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