I would like to make this page a special tribute to Sapphire, whose picture above was taken on the morning of the day she died.

Sapphire and her sister Tequila were born on the 24th April 1999, and I brought them home on the 10th of July. By mid November it was obvious that Tequila had a serious problem; she was diagnosed with bone tumours in her shoulders and was put to sleep on the 30th November, at the tender age of 7 months.

Sapphire pined dreadfully, and I thought another bitch puppy might keep her company. So Whizzie came into our lives.

When they were both hip-scored it was discovered that Sapphire's hips were very poor; appalling actually. Despite having a good pedigree and a sensible upbringing she was sadly unsuitable for breeding, so I had her speyed. Whizzie, on the other hand, had good hips, a fabulous temperament, and moved really well.

I looked for a suitable stud dog and she had 9 puppies in June 2002 by Nyrvana Xenogenesis. My beloved Sapphire was a superb companion for the pups as they grew; she washed them and played with them, and comforted and cuddled them when their mum decided it was time for them to be weaned. We had a litter of English Springer Spaniels in January 2003 and she was a brilliant surrogate mum for them as well.

Sadly her hips quickly deteriorated; despite an operation and steroids she was in a lot of pain. Far too soon it was time to set her free to join her litter-mate. I cuddled her while she was gently put to sleep in April 2003 just two weeks before her 4th birthday.