Of all the posts I have written for my blog this is the hardest one of all to have to write. For all of you who have been following Archie and his antics from the day we brought home as a 9 week old puppy to the present date October 9th 2024. These have included his progress from a bouncy naughty puppy, his birthdays, Christmases (he loved opening presents – including ours) and all of the many happy holidays we went on, but there will be no more.
As suddenly and extremely out of the blue Archie passed away on 9th October 2024 aged just 71/2. He went out for his usual favourite walk up on Henlake Down (which is just a short walk from our house). He came home and after every walk had his feet and legs washed and then dog blasted and hair dried. He was then brushed and combed, and today he was actually booked into his groomers.
However a short while after he appeared to be unwell (I won’t go into detail) so took him down to the Vets. They could not diagnose what was wrong so they did some blood tests to see if that would give any indication. The results came back and nothing untoward showed up apart from his temperature was a bit high.
We took Archie home but he deteriorated through the night and I know he was in pain and we were going to take him back to the vet in the morning, but that never materialised as he passed away about 7.30 a.m in his bed in our bedroom , so you can imagine the guilt we felt that will last forever. There is just one consolation (although very small) and that was he was with us in his own home when he passed
As you can imagine we are totally gobsmacked and both of us completely devasted. How could this of happened to a young, fit and healthy dog? He had the best of everything and was loved to bits and thoroughly spoilt and was full of character. He had a happy and what should have been a long life but it was inexplicably cut short with no explanation.
Of course there was no alternative but to have him individually cremated and our intentions were to scatter his ashes on his favourite walk which was Henlake Down.

However with some serious consideration we decided we could not do that as he hated being away from us, so the decision was made that we would buy a nice urn and keep him with us. Well I scoured the internet for an urn but didn’t see one I liked, so after a long period of time I found an alternative – an antique Royal Doulton Flambe ginger jar (only the best for our boy!!).
We have laid him to to rest on our lounge window sill, where Archie loved to look out and watch the World go by, he was definitely the neighbourhood watch dog!!
We also planted a little shrub with a plaque in the garden to remember him (but no ashes used as we have kept them in tact).
He was the centre of our lives and our world revolved around Archie (which is how we wanted it). He was a much loved member of our family and our lives will not be the same. He has left a huge hole in our lives that will never be filled. He is gone but he will never ever be forgotten and there will always be the question WHY?
God bless you our wonderful boy, R.I.P. Archie 2nd April 2017 – 9th October 2024.
Clumberdoodle Archie gone but will never be forgotten
Karen, I was just reading about when Archie was a pup. I didn’t realise he had passed 😓 I’m so sorry for your loss.
We have just gotten our clumberdoodle and he looks so much like Archie 🥺 I’ve enjoyed reading, as they are so similar!!
Hi Ness. Thank you for your latest comment and I have just sent you an email direct.