My son and I made a new friend 10 days ago. Her name is Clare, and she lives near Loch Lomond. It is all because of Snoop.
My dad died in July 2004 and two days after his funeral, my dog Bonnie died totally unexpectedly. My parents looked after her while I worked away in London. Dad took her everywhere. I coped with this double loss by convincing myself that Bonnie obviously thought dad was a better prospect.
My mum found living on her own really hard and we decided to get her a dog for companionship and protection. We went absolutely everywhere to find the right dog. We ended up at Ponderosa, and met Snoop. We were told he had been in the rescue for 4 months. His owner had moved into a flat and couldn't keep him but rang up every day to see how he was.
Snoop greeted us with a friendly wolf like howl. It was instant love and we brought him home. Snoop settled in with mum as if he'd always been there. He greeted everyone with his distinct happy bark. He was my son's first and best friend. Mum had homecare and they loved him too. He got a bit amorous with a few of them. He was choosy, they were young blonde and pretty, and he had to have the snip.
As mum got older she would worry about what would happen to Snoop. There was no question that he would come to us, though when that day came so many people offered to take him.
Snoop sadly passed away at home in 2015. He was 15. He is and always will be missed.
At the beginning of April 2021 my brother messaged me 'Ring me ASAP'. Keith had received a message on Twitter from Clare.
Clare is Snoop's first owner. She was the young person who had put him in Ponderosa all those years ago. She had suffered from illness for a long time over letting her dog go. It had eaten her up over the years, hoping he hadn't been abused or put down. At the beginning of 2021 she tried to contact Ponderosa to see if they had news, only to find it had closed down 6 years ago. By chance she saw a comment I had written on there and tried to track me down. She isn't on social media, but went on Twitter to see if I was. She contacted my brother first in case I would be upset to be contacted. I was over the moon.
I was able to fill in all the missing pieces for her and hopefully she now has the peace she searched for for so long. Her actions gave my mum a reason to get up in the morning, a little boy his first friend and a grieving family a beautiful addition.
Clare told me she would look up at the stars and say, 'Please let me know that Snoop is ok.' I was able to tell her that there is a star called Snoop because I bought it for my son.
Snoop really was a unique dog. He was loved so much and will always be missed.