Mindy Hammond on Losing a four-legged friendIT'S A sad day as Mindy says goodbye to a four-legged friend and recalls how she was by Richard’s bedside after his horrific car crash.By MINDY HAMMOND
PUBLISHED: Sunday, January 22, 2017
It’s a sad day as Mindy says goodbye to a four-legged friend HELLARDThis is a gap that can never be filled; a woolly bear whose hugs can never be replaced. Our darling TG is with us no more.
She was the naughtiest, fluffiest pup, who took months to house-train and chewed through all four legs of the kitchen table along with all six chairs. She wouldn’t walk on the lead; she simply bounced with that irrepressible smile plastered all over her face. Never did a dog embrace life as she did.
The moment she arrived in the house, she made a beeline for the girls and instantly adored them. It was as though she walked in, saw them and decided they were her responsibility.
She watched them grow and was always there whenever they needed a hug or a friend to confide in. TG adored every living creature who shared her life and mothered everything from kittens to lambs. Every new arrival had an instant friend and the cats would all rub round her and snuggle up with her to sleep.
After Richard had his accident, TG was with him when he was recovering, always desperate to lie next to his bed, her tail wagging incessantly and often waking him while he was trying to sleep. She couldn’t help herself – her joy at being reunited had to be demonstrated.
Tidgers had always been car sick (ironic as she was the Top Gear dog) and on days when she was needed in the studio, I would drive her the three to four hours from home while she sat in the passenger seat and drooled on my lap.
Yet she was such an amazing, devoted girl, she quickly learned hand signals to sit and lie down when she saw a camera, knew she was “at work” and would readily do whatever was asked of her, even sitting in a wind tunnel wearing goggles and a flying helmet.
But TG’s favourite place in the world was home, in the early days running through the fields chasing rabbits and playing with Crusoe the collie, Captain the Jack Russell and Pablo the chocolate poodle.
Pablo left us many years ago and when TG developed spondylosis, we had to curtail some of her activities a little bit, but it wasn’t easy. She’d often whizz through my legs and dash out across the lawn with her friends, ignoring my pleas for her to come back.
As Crusoe grew older, she and TG were happy to trot shoulder to shoulder like a couple of devoted old spinsters catching up on their news on a stroll about the grounds, yet before a paw was placed outside the dog room door there was always the traditional Captain versus TG scrabble. Captain had been her playmate when she was a pup and invented a game of “grab the leg in the doorway”, which TG always lost when she was little.
But as she grew, she realised she could grab him on the back of the neck, a signal to play, and it was like winding up the best toy.
This morning, TG came out with Blea and Captain for a quick wander in the dark before taking up her standard position on the sofa. When I returned from the school run, there she was, waiting as usual by the front door.
She followed me to the kitchen and she waited while I sorted the ponies, then gave her the first batch of medication before she went back to her sleeping position. At lunchtime, she came for her solo stroll, and I noticed she was holding her head low and a bit to the side.
She was more lame on her front leg as I walked towards her and although she was smiling and her tail was wagging as usual, I was worried.
“Oooh Tidge,” I said, “are you a bit sore today my darling?” and gave her the next course of meds when we were back in the kitchen.
When I came back from picking up the girls, there she was as usual at the front door, but tonight she grabbed my sleeve in her mouth and stuck with me like she does when I’ve been away.
She led me to the kitchen and I made a fuss of her, then the evening went on as usual until bedtime. I opened my book, scratched TG on the head and she settled into her basket beside my bed.
But moments later, she was up and pacing, I leapt out of bed and tried to comfort her as she howled in pain. She was sick, she had a sort of seizure and collapsed in my arms. The tail that never, ever stopped wagging, even when she was in pain, lay limp and lifeless, and I knew, to my absolute devastation, that this was the end.
I woke the girls and we called the vet while we sat with our most beloved, gorgeous, woolly bear. Hugged her, kissed her, told her how much we loved her and cried our hearts out. She would always tremble at the sight of the vet, but tonight she was calm, her pain and exhaustion too great.
I have owned many dogs and loved them all, but none have I ever loved like TG.
She was my shadow; she’d whine if I was in a room with the door closed to her (even the loo!), would look me in the eye and always make me smile, she was a clown who could make me laugh out loud, a snuggler who’d never let me sit alone on the sofa, and in latter days the dog whose snoring often forced Richard and I to sleep in separate rooms.
At 1.15am today, I kissed that woolly head for the last time and told her how much I loved her.
We had to say goodbye, we both knew it was time, yet I can’t help feeling completely heartbroken.
www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/mindy-hammond/756166/Top-Gear-star-Richard-Hammond-wife-Mindy-Hammond-losing-family-dog
