We said goodbye today to our life companion Dan after nearly sixteen years, as smart and loyal a friend as you could wish for. There is a hole in our hearts and lives.

As you can see he was always a good looking boy, he appeared on TV once dragging Julie around a garden attempting to train him, and has appeared in endless posts here.

He was a farm and a beach dog. Always up for a ride in the Mule or running ahead of it and always up for a visit to the beach in the morning. He just loved to work. He patrolled the property constantly making sure anything that came near, cars up the driveway, aeroplanes flying 20,000 feet overhead, any tractor or lawnmower, horses running in the arena or paddocks next door got a sound barking at and boy could he bark. He would shatter your eardrums in the car if you sneezed, yes he hated that, or for several years, if he saw a white van out of the back window, I really don’t know where he got that one from! A lady once commented in the local shop that she could hear him barking on the beach in the mornings and she lived about a mile away.

He was surrounded by good friends as well. Rarely, if ever, left alone he had a wide circle of friends.  Thank you to all our neighbours who “Dan dog sat” throughout the years and a special thanks to Rose and Roger and of course his very favourite surrogate Mum, Shirley.

He really was one of those special dogs. He had an amazing environment to live in, he gave so much back. He followed us everywhere. Dan you are gone, sadness is a bit overwhelming at the moment, but here’s to you and a life well lived.

Thanks so much to my wonderful hubby Andrew for writing this. Safe journeys Dan .. we will always love you