Today marks the end of an era because three weeks before her 16th birthday my beautiful Bronte lost her battle and passed away after a short illness. She was the only female in a litter of six and became the exact replica of her father Bud in appearance and mannerisms and soon settled in after being schooled by Tuffi who mothered her.
Initially bred as hunting dogs to go fox hunting, she had all the attributes of a Jack Russell Terrier. She was feisty, fearless, athletic, agile, outgoing, intelligent, courageous, affectionate (except to fluffy white dogs and sheep) completely fearless, totally independent and made a fine, if not hard to control companion.
She was typical of her breed, would chase anything that moved which was down to her hunting instinct and if commanded to do something, would add it to the long list of other things and do it when she felt like it.
She was socialised by coming on walks with the group and her nickname of ‘Little sod’ fitted her. Ask anyone who knew her and they will always tell you a story about how naughty she had been – in all honesty I could write a book!!
Like the time – on a walk at Vaynor, opposite the church there used to be a tavern and somehow Bronte found a huge catering kitchen roll at the top of the hill and did her Andrex puppy impression by rolling it downhill and scattering it everywhere. Whilst everyone was falling about laughing, it took me 15 minutes to gather together all the bits……….
Or the time – at the end of a recce at Mitchel Troy, with Ann and Nick, when she suddenly disappeared underneath a huge tree in the car park by the church. Making no noise at all I was becoming very concerned and after about 20 minutes of trying to coax her out I was just about to go and knock a door and request a shovel, when Ann spotted her nose. Luckily I had my secateurs and made a hole big enough under the tree to put my arm in and yank her out and the best thing … she would have run straight back and disappeared again if I had let her.
She very much disliked sheep and was as her breed commands very vociferous in her hatred yelping and howling her displeasure when they were spotted. I had to be about 3 miles ahead of her when we were out walking so I could put her on the lead at the appropriate time, which sometimes did backfire.
On a walk in the Taff Fechan valley she managed to find the only sheep on our side of the river, which ran straight into the river before scrambling out onto the opposite bank. Bronte however did not come out of it so lucky; the river was in full flood, moving fast on its journey down the valley and she was swept along for a huge distance bouncing off the rocks until she came to land on a narrow piece of rock which lay underneath a big overhanging shelf, which made it impossible to get to her. So I had to hang over the edge of a rock a little further downstream with someone hanging onto my feet so I didn’t fall in, whilst attempting to cajole her into jumping back into the water so I could catch her. It took patience and time but in the end she trusted me enough to jump in and I managed to successfully grab her like a trapeze artiste and haul her to safety, glad she was safe but at the same time wishing I could murder her!
She would disappear into woods, under bushes and into rabbit holes when the hunting instinct became too much and all I could do was sit and wait until she appeared, totally unabashed and with no sense of remorse.
There are so many more stories to be told of my little hero who wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone but was so loyal. She was simply my guiding light, faithfully by my side through thick and thin, laughter and tears and when I was ill she went into full ‘nursie’ mode, giving me a lot of attention and support until she felt I was better.
There is now a gaping hole for Bracken and I because she is missing forever and it hurts. But her energy, vitality and spirit is forging its way through the big blue yonder and that is my comfort.
Fly free my warrior but please know you will be sorely missed xxxxxx
Joy Strangward, Publicity Officer
22.4.2020