I had only written about this on my Facebook page but the day after Easter, we lost out beloved lurcher Otto. He was 12 1/2 years old, no age for an other wise healthy dog. He came to us at about 6 months old having already gone to a number of homes who were unable to cope with him! He was offered to us as we already had lurcher experience with Harry Lurcher, our adopted hound from Greyhound Rescue West of England charity. Naturally we said yes and Otto arrived, initially on trial.
We spent the evening next door with our neighbours and good friends Anthony, Emma and their family, enjoying a BBQ and a few drinks. Anthony and Emma had three labradors and a Westie, and our thoughts were that if Otto survived this, he would be OK. He not only survived but had the time of his life and fitted in as if he had always been there.
Over the next few days he got to know Harry and the two became firm friends. As you probably know, lurchers love running and these two were no different. Initially Harry, being older, was the quicker and had to wear a muzzle as he had a habit of nipping Otto. Very soon, however, Otto grew and became faster and stronger. The muzzle was no longer needed as the balance of running power changed and Harry was all of a sudden not able to keep up. Watching them run was a joy, Harry working so hard trying to catch up and Otto teasing, running just fast enough to stay in front. To see Otto running at full speed was wonderful: He was so graceful and appeared to almost float over the ground. And so fast! His favourite trick was to let Harry almost catch up and then, at the last moment, turning 90 degrees without slowing at all, leaving Harry, who wasn’t as agile, to continue in a straight line, barking at Otto to get back here. They enjoyed it and so did we.
The two of them were a pair, inseparable friends. We did a lot of fundraising and awareness events for GRWE and the two of them always attracted a lot of attention, Harry , a skinny fawn coloured, rough coated lurcher with a beautiful face and soulful eyes: Otto the Saluki/Deerhound/Greyhound cross with his sleek suave looks and gorgeous eye liner! His mission in life was to make friends with every human and every dog in the world, whether or not they wanted to meet him. As such the two of them always made an impact.
We sadly lost Harry at the beginning of 2019. After a rough start, he had lived a long happy life with us but, at 14 or 15 years old, eventually we knew when it was his time to go. By this time we had adopted Molly so Otto, although sad, was not on his own, something he would not have coped with very well.
As the months went by, we noticed him slowing down but put it down to age. But recently he seemed to lose his appetite and started losing weight. We tried to tempt him with all sorts of treats but with very little success. The vets gave him some tablets to treat gastric problems which had a small measure of success but not what he needed. We took him back to the vets for scans on the first day after Easter and, within a couple of hours, had the phone call we had been dreading. Otto had advanced lung cancer! It had been difficult to watch him struggling over the last few weeks and we could not bear to allow his suffering to continue any longer so made the only decision we could
We went straight back to the vets to say our goodbyes. He was pleased to see us and we took him for a walk around the grounds. He had been excited to get in the car that morning and he was quite happy wandering round, investigating all the smells, having a wee, as if nothing was amiss.
This all happened so quickly, we had no time to prepare ourselves and was the hardest decision we had ever made. It was not his time and he should have stayed with us for another couple of years, at least, until he had reached the end of his natural life span. However this was not to be. The vet showed us his scan and we knew there was nothing that could be done and so, this most beautiful, friendly, gentle and above all, dignified dog hopped up into the back of the car and, with his family soothing him, making a fuss of him, telling him how much we loved him, quietly slipped away.
Otto, I hope you are somewhere out there, reunited with your friend Harry. I don’t know if we will meet again, I hope so but who knows! However, I hope you were always loved and will never be forgotten.
R.I.P. Otto, my loyal, faithful friend.
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Pete's Blog. Dorset and Beyond 