In the spring, our precious cairn terrier Ollie was diagnosed with a large liver tumor. We've spent the past few months loving on him as much as possible because we knew our time was growing short. I prayed to the Lord that He would keep Ollie's pain at bay, and that God in His mercy would give us a sign when it was time to say goodbye. And so He did.
Born on September 24, 2011, he became a member of our family right after Thanksgiving. We considered several breeds before settling on a cairn. I read a book on how to pick a puppy, and so we were blessed with a lovely boy that we enjoyed for over eleven years.
Born to a multi-generation cairn breeder in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk County England, Ollie was destined to be my buddy while we lived abroad since I wasn't teaching. We walked many a mile in Surrey together, Ollie and I. With his laidback personality he was a favorite at the local doggy play days.
Ollie was a well traveled fellow, flying across the Atlantic with us three times for our two stints in England. He was a pretty fearless little guy who never met a stranger, human or dog alike. However, the one thing he absolutely did not like was fireworks. I blame that on the overzealous folks on Guy Fawkes celebrations when he was a youngster.
Our youngest daughter grew up with Ollie since we got him when she was still in elementary school. As a matter of fact, she's the one who taught him his most famous trick - sitting flat on his bottom like a meerkat to beg for a bit of table food. He was quite adept at playing the cute card with this move, and was still doing it up until a few days before he passed.
Ollie didn't mind being an only dog, but he was fine with his longterm housemate Pepper the cairn, plus our older daughter's Chorkie for a few years. Then there were mother's pugs Max and Ruby that lived in our backyard for years while mother resided in her guesthouse out back. Ollie put up with their panting and shedding over the years.
His longest running canine companion was Pepper, who joined our family in October 2017. Initially afraid of him, our little gray cairn girl quickly realized he was a big old pushover who was all bark and growl when she got too rambunctious, but had absolutely no bite in him.
He truly was the best dog in so many little ways. They carve out a place in our lives with their sweet personalities. And thus they take a little piece of our hearts with them when we have to say goodbye. Farewell to our little squirrel chasing fellow who loved to go walkies and never met a french fry he didn't eagerly wolf down. My own Mr. Migglesworth.
Sept 2011 - June 2023
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