This blog is meant to be about writing but my beloved Labrador crossed with a Rottweiler (a Labweiler), passed away last Thursday morning. The grief has poleaxed me and all writing has stopped for a while.

One morning during the scorching summer of 2008, as my wife and me pulled in to a market north of Adelaide, we saw four puppies for sale in the back of an old ute.

I gave one of the black pups a tweak on the ear and she quickly sunk her fangs in to my thumb. It was love at first bite.

My wife named her Georgy, after The Seeker’s song, Georgy Girl, “walking down the street so fancy free…”

She travelled everywhere with us and gave unconditional love which was returned in buckets. She was a sea dog for most of her life and that’s where her ashes will go.

I’m not one given to crying but I cried for three days after she died. How precious the bond is between owner and dog, although in reality, she owned me, heart and soul.