There are days in our lives that are indellibly printed in our minds - some of those are also indellibly printed onto our hearts!

Saturday 8th June 2024 - The Day that Changed our World.

Let me take you back to Easter Saturday 2012. T and I had not long been married and we were taking a walk near Hampton Court in South West London - sat outside a quaint coffee shop, we watched as a couple walked past with a beautiful, small, black dog - full of character and naturally inquisitive.

“Do you mind me asking what breed your dog is?” T enquired.

“It’s a Pomeranian” the owner replied.

Little were we to know at the time, that the very following day, a 12 year love affair with our very own Pomeranian, would begin.

Leila was our baby - we have never had children, much to the disappointment of our respective parents, but it was a decision that we made many years ago now. We were however proud doggy parents, and Leila was rightly treated like a fully fledged member of our family, not just by us, but by our parents, extended family and close friends.

She touched lives, she was special - let me tell you why.

After travelling all the way to Plaistow in East London on Easter Sunday of 2012, we stepped into a breeders. There we were greeted by a large enclosure homing 4 or 5, 9 week old Pomeranian puppies. Now, I know that we are always told to pick the confident one, the one that comes to greet you, but that’s not me - I was drawn to the quiet, solemn looking puppy, sat cowering timidly at the back of the enclosure - she was the one for us.

Bills paid, wormer administered, we embarked on the long journey back to her forever home.

We were like doting new parents - Leila, as we would later name her, had already made a lasting mark on our hearts.

The early years were not straightforward. We discovered not long after getting her, that she had Giardia - a microscopic intestinal parasite that can be fatal, and would unfortunately leave her with a lifelong ‘weak stomach’.

At the age of 5, she had a freak accident whilst out walking with me, that lead to a bulging disk in her spine. We were given 2 options; invasive ‘super vet’ esque surgery or 6 months cage rest - we opted for the painstaking, but less risky latter. She went on to make a full recovery and lived a completely normal life.

T, my wife, works in private residential healthcare - Leila went to work with her, almost every day for over 12 years, from the age of 10 weeks. The residents loved her - she was their unofficial ‘therapy dog’. She helped people heal, she improved mental health. I still see her vividly, sat on residents laps, being stroked, with her infectious smile gazing up at them.

Regardless of how bad my day had been, getting home to see her sat on the doormat, wagging her tail, panting lovingly into my eyes, made me feel instantly, and infinitely better!

The truth is, she loved people - way more than other dogs. She never had an issue with dogs, she just wasn’t bothered. Leila gravitated to people, and people loved her. She had a presence, one that is hard to describe or understand. She made people that weren’t fussed about dogs, love her - it was an aura.

Leila was so well travelled - without the need for a dog passport - in the UK she came everywhere with us.

Pomeranian’s are apparently lapdogs. Well I can tell you - Leila wasn’t! We joked that she was a pig in a previous life - she would always find the nearest stream, lake, pond, puddle - particularly the muddy, dirty ones!

She was small, but she would walk miles - as you all no doubt know, T and I are outdoors people. In her early years, she would happily walk well over 5 miles, sometimes (infact often) even more! She even did the ‘Marsden March’ with T and I on a couple of occasions, all 15 miles of it!

The beach - oh she loved the beach. You could feel the excitement oozing from her when she knew a beach was close - she would gallop like a thoroughbred racehorse towards the sea, wind blowing her buff coloured fur, the seaspray engulfing her face and the sand sticking to her undercarriage.

Leila was ridiculously smart! One such example…

As a puppy, we wanted to train her as early as possible to understand boundaries. One of the most important for me was during meal times, so we purchased a canvas ‘crate’ that we taught her to go in whilst we ate. We lived in our first flat at the time, which had an open plan living/dining area - I remember vividly, the occasion when we placed her in her crate in the kitchen, as we sat down to eat our evening meal on the sofa in front of the TV. The next thing we knew, she was sat at our feet gazing up at us with her big brown eyes. Somehow, she had managed to teach herself to clasp the zip with her teeth and unzip the door in order for her to escape the crate and come over to join us!

The medical challenges however, weren’t over, and in January 2024, at the age of 12, whilst I was in Norway photographing Golden Eagles, Leila had a successful operation under general anaesthetic, to repair a ruptured cruciate ligament, from which she again, made a full physical recovery.

It’s amazing how life goes - back in May, T, Leila and I, had the most amazing short trip to Kent, in our campervan, walking the cliffs and exploring as we always had. We were planning future trips for the rest of 2024, Wales, Nothumberland, possibly back to the Isle of Wight.

On our return home we noticed that Leila was taking longer than normal to urinate, sometimes painfully so, she was also drinking more water than she typically did, and we felt the need to take her to the vets.

She was initially treated (blindly) for a unrine infection, but after 2 weeks of antibiotics, no improvement and a visibly bloated belly, we returned with her to the vets once again.

A physical examination, led to her bladder being drained of 330ml of fluid, 10x the normal capacity for a dog her size. Follow up ultrasound scans, administered either side of a stressful night spent transporting her to and from an emergency over night vets, devastatingly found 2 masses, one on the inner wall of her bladder, and one, critically over the point where the urethra enters the bladder, hence her inability to urinate.

On Friday 7th June 2024 it was decided that we would take her to a specialist for further investigation - critical in order to supply us with the required information to know exactly what we were dealing with. I opted for a private practice ‘Lumbry Park’ in Alton, Hampshire and a specialist small pet consultant called Shaun Calleja. From the moment we walked in, overcome with a torrent of emotion, we felt at ease - Shaun is an incredible human being - heartwarmingly empathetic as well as obviously highly knowledgeable and experienced in his field.

An explanation of the symptoms and circumstances from Shaun, made it clear just how poorly Leila was, but as any pet owner will tell you - when you are having to make such a momumental decision on behalf of something that holds such a huge and significant part of your heart, you have to do so with zero doubt.

Leila spent 24 hours at Lumbry Park. 24 hours that sent T and I on a rollercoaster of emotions, litres of tears were shed as the reality of what was happening started to take hold of us both.

In the moment, gazing deep into the eyes of your pet with unconditional love, you never contemplate the moment when you eventually have to say goodbye. Nothing can prepare you for it, and I have never felt pain like it, but one thing that I was absolutely certain of, was that we would be there to the very end, reciprocating the unconditional love that she had always given us.

After CT scans, biopsies, further ultrasound scans, bloods and other tests, it was confirmed that she had aggressive cancer in her bladder and urethra, and on Saturday 8th June 2024 at 15:30, cradled in my arms, in the Hampshire sunshine, being told just how much she was loved by both T and I, we said our final goodbye to Leila and our world changed forever.

The Day that Changed our World!

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