I had some wonderful news today that 'Dogs Monthly' magazine have accepted an article I submitted in February.
Although I submitted the article in 2010, this article has taken nearly two years to write as I had to travel to so many corners of the country in order to get the material. I wanted to visit each site that I was writing about in order to take my own photographs.
The article is about our ever lasting bond with our dogs, and how even after death, we want an ever lasting memory of them by erecting statues and monuments.
The blood was my blood. It came from a trip to Cardiff when I walked for miles in the most uncomfortable boots that gave me blood blisters. But I got my picture which is part of a lovely sculpture in Cardiff bay of a ordinary dog ( who is very special) with his family.
The sweat and tears came in Cornwall last year. I made it my mission to find the statue of little 'Chalky' who belonged to Rick Stein the famous chef.
I walked through Padstow in the midday sun, it was packed with people looking for his seafood restaurant or his fish and chip shop and it was boiling hot.
When I saw the little bronze statue of the famous Jack Russel outside the restaurant, I burst into tears, it was so moving.
The relationship with our dogs and other animals have touched the human soul throughout the centuries. We seem to have this need to remember them in our own way.
The little grey dog in the picture at the top of this post is Oscar, he was my dog. He does not have a massive monument in his memory, just a tiny Celtic cross in the garden where nature thrives, so to me that is special.
I know I had to wait for this one, but it was worth it because I can share on a smaller scale how people have loved and lost their dogs, but will never forget them.
