Today I said good bye to my friend Siegfried. Spent the afternoon sitting with him and talking to him.

Early in December he developed a problem with his left hind leg, and it no longer worked, he was dragging it.

Took him to a local vet, who recommended me taking him to a specialist in Adelaide at a veterinarian hospital. The prognosis was not good, possibly just a pinched nerve in the rear hip and that wasn't explaining everything. So he was left there for the afternoon and an operation performed where a hightlighting fluid was injected into his spine and x-rays taken. Unfortunately the results of this one wasn't good, so a second test was done from the neck down, the first being from the hips up.

Both tests revealed the fluid wasn't making it through the spin at the back of the ribs and that there was problem there. The x-rays also did show a pinched nerve problem which was masking a more serious problem. The symptoms of a tumour in his spine. No operation being possible to fix the problem.

This all took in the end three days, actually when I was supposed to be upgrading these forums, one reason for the longer delay in getting them back up. A fourth day to drive home with some errands.

After the operation and testing unfortunately he never recovered the use of his right leg either, so now both the left and the right leg were not working properly. However bandaging his feet he was able to have some mobility by dragging his rear feet on the ground. Sometimes to quite long distances if the gate was left open. He was eager to join in as usual. Unfortunately rides in the tractor were no longer possible as it would be too difficult to get him in and out, and nowhere for an immobile dog to ride. So he was always greatly upset by this, screaming tantrums, as he has always been able to accompany me when working.

I thought we would not have him for long, not even Christmas as he complained a lot at night, one night which was horrible to hear. I thought he was in pain and almost shot him that night. It turned out, he wasn't in pain, just sad, and complaining about the TV and lights being on! The little bugger almost got put down for it!

A lot of time he has been happy and continued on even if increasingly immobile. This last weekend he unfortunately could not get up himself anymore so a day to have him put down was organised. Yesterday night even had trouble reaching his water bowl so had to be helped.

We have been spoiling him for the last three weeks. Today he had a chocolate donut, chocolate being dangerous for dogs, but they love it anyway. A whole packet of dog jerky. Cheese and milk to drink. Even if just lying there he had a happy afternoon while I talked him to him about the book "White Hunters" which I am currently reading.

Originally I planned to do it myself, but I decided I did not want the last sight of my dog, to be with a hole through his head. Going in his sleep was much more peaceful.

He has been buried and I plan to plant a flamboyant tree on his grave. Siegfried's kennel name was actually "Flashfire" so the fiery red flamboyant or flame tree is appropriate. It is not ideal or easy to grow in this area as the winters are too cold, but we have managed to get jacarandahs (very similar requirements) growing so hopefully ..... Nearby a willow will be planted.

My main regret is Siegfried never having any puppies that we know of, as I would have liked to have a pup of his, and that the photos are so inadequate. While never but once being gun-shy, his first un-planned experience of guns as a puppy was when he started to run off on a gun shot of some vermin near the house, but on being called, stopped and came back. Always a game boy. But he has always been shy of a camera lens. Videos were even worse as an older puppy he used to jump up and into the lens knocking the camera into my eye. He always got a nervous look when a camera was pointed at him.

Of course I intend to look for a new hunting mate as soon as a suitable one can be found.