OBITUARY: R.I.P., Chunky. You're going to be missed.

German shepherds are prone to suffer from Hip Dysplasia to one degree or another; a lucky few seem to suffer no ill effects. Sadly, Chunky was not one of those, and she'd soldiered on for some time with an ever-increasingly severe form of the condition. Sadly, it became too much for her, and today, she was assisted to a better place, and passed away peacefully in the arms of my other half.

I'd known Chunky for something like six and a half-odd years. A German Shepherd of advanced years even then, in my other half's pub, she was friendly to all (well, most: She was a pretty good judge of character), and a complete space cadet. It didn't take me long to give her an affectionate nick-name. I called her 'Chunky', because she was a few chunks short a tin of Winalot. And that summed her up perfectly: She was wonderfully bonkers, even in her twilight years.

Like most people who knew her, I'm going to miss that furry lunatic; I'll miss her in more ways than I suspect I know, to be honest. She was a member of my other half's family, and from day one, she always made me feel welcome. Despite the annoyance, I'll miss her head-butting me in the nether regions for attention and a skritch between the ears (Dog lovers know what a skritch is, but for you other folks, it's a cross between a rub and a scratch, containing elements of both). Actually, I think it was more amusement and shock that she caught me there again and again and again without fail. I'll miss her shedding all over my clothes. I'll miss her wandering over and standing on my foot to tell me to stay put and pay her some attention. I'll miss her wandering over when I'm eating, and giving me that look. I'll miss her hopping onto the bed and lying over my legs (correction. Whumping down on my legs. OOF!) to prevent me from getting out of bed, before I paid her some attention. I'll even miss that apparently sixteen foot long tongue of hers, rasping over my mug to wake me up (and the associated doggy breath. GAGH!). And here I am tearing up again :( Gone through a lot of kitchen roll in the last while, for some reason :-(

She was not my dog, and yet she belonged to a lot of people. She had that kind of a character to her.


Chunky is survived by a (somewhat confused) sister ('Achtung') who doesn't quite understand what's happened, and a loving family and friends.

Good-bye, Chunky.

You're in a better place now, and we're all diminished by your absence.