Snork P Stonky

Peephole on life closed Nov 2000
What a wonderful dog.
Dear old Snorky was rescued from the pound after the death of my first dog 'Cat the Dog'.

Snork was one of the worst cases they had seen. She had been starved almost to death, had mange and distemper. She was so scared of people that she would crouch and wet herself when anyone came near. It was so sad I could have wept. I certainly could have easily killed the bastards who had done this to her. It was hard to tell exactly how old she was but I think she was about a year old.

Because she had been starved as a young pooch, her paws were always too big for - although she was a large dog, she had obviously nver grown in to them and once she filled out they always looked like boots.

Snork quickly bonded with me and became my Studio Mangler when I was a photographer. She was fantastic. We travelled all over the place and met all sorts of people.

She was a Lurcher - a Greyhound crossed with a Terrier; in her case, a Staffordshire terrier (but we didn't talk about that side of the family). From what I learned her mother was half greyhound half terrier and the father was full greyhound.

She was very beautiful (once she recovered) and an incredibly loyal and quiet pooch who, after about a year, learned to smile a fabulous beguiling full toothed smile. She would beam at me when I returned after being away even for 10 minutes, if she thought she might be in trouble she would smile - this I thought very clever as she realised I could not growl at her because her smiling made me laugh so much, and every morning she sat at the side of my bed waiting for me to wake up and the first thing I would see was her great big beaming face, pressed close to mine.

Snork rescued me 3 times from being attacked by men, twice in home invasions where she managed to scare the bejesus out of the would be burglers with her silent attack, and once while out walking.

She was very polite to the cats and civil though wary of new people until introduced.

Snouseff (she had many nicknames) developed a kidney disease and had to be put down when she was around 13. Up untill then she had remained extremely fit and active. I scattered her ashes over a rabbit hole on some farm land we often used to wander around.