The loss of one of our beloved pets has inspired me to write about our pet history.

Hey guys

Our family are certainly animal lovers. We have dogs, chickens, a tortoise and in the past have had fish (marine fish, African cichlids, freshwater tropical, goldfish). We also have a horse. Up until earlier this week, we had two horses. Our beautiful old Dartmoor pony, "Parsley" passed away at the grand old age of 35. That's really good going for a horse, about the equivalent in human years as a 100-year-old. It has kind of made me think about all of the previous pets that have been in our family and I wanted to talk about them.

Up until I met my wife, I wasn't really a dog lover. In fact, I was pretty scared of them. When she told me that she had a dog at her house, to say I was worried about that would be an understatement. However, I needn't have been. Chelsea was an Old English Sheepdog, named after the "Chelsea Bun" (due to her uncle having a dog called Doughnut and her family jokingly copying the type of name given). This dog was a bundle of fun and it's because of her that I love dogs now as much as I do. I remember seeing the heartache that my wife felt when Chelsea passed on. Chelsea was "her dog", the dog she grew up with, the dog she trained and the dog that she told everything to.

After Chelsea passed on, Charlene and I got our own house and decided that it was time for us to get our own furbaby. We ended up getting a 5 year old Golden Retriever ex-breeding bitch and we called her Pip.

Now Pip was my baby girl, full of joy and always wanting cuddles. The silly thing would eat anything. I have compiled a list of the things she ate that she shouldn't have

• Her own poop
• Tickets to a football match
• Cash
• Her own poop
• Speaker cables
• Other dogs poop
• A months supply of contraceptive tablets.

That last one resulted in a phonecall to the vets and us having to shove some soda crystals down her throat to induce vomiting. What a crazy animal

Pip was an amazing companion and lived an amazing life. She was always riddled with tumours though and it eventually caught up with her. She passed on, aged 12.

She left behind her companions, Barnie, a little Yorkshire terrier boy and Poppet, a little Yorkshire Terrier girl. This terrible twosome were just awesome.

^Poppet

Poppet was a timid little thing. We rescued her from a puppy farm and were lied to about her age and condition. The 4 year-old healthy girl later turned out to be at least 8 years old and suffering from kidney failure. After about a year of having her, we were told that she would only have a few months to live. Of course, this was hard to accept and we managed to find out about a recipe for meals that would help with her kidneys. In the end, she ended up having a happy 3 more years with us on a diet of minced lamb, cous cous and sweet potato. Coupled with some meds it held off the kindey failure for years.

After the passing of Poppet, Barnie got lonely so we ended up rescuing the maddest dog yet. Molly is a Cairn terrier. Very boisterous and very ruff and tumble. From the moment they met, it was chaos, as you can see from the below picture which I took on the first day that Molly arrived

Barnie just came alive from that day on. Molly is now 8 years old and Barnie is an absolutely amazing 14 years old in February. He is now, unfortunately, blind, but is currently on his third doggy wife so it's not all bad. He spends most of his day sleeping, but still seems happy and contented.

^Barnie

The main reason I wanted to write this was because of the loss of our amazing Parsley on Monday. She was moody, subborn and grumpy a lot of the time, but she was always, underneath all that brash exterior, a softie. She will be missed tremendously.

^Parsley

One of the most "interesting" recent memories of her is when she got kicked into the ditch that runs down the side of the paddock by our other horse, "Banner". We had to get the neighbours round to help get her out! Here's a pic of the silly mare that was responsible for that!

^Banner

Banner does seem to be coping OK without Parsley around to keep her company but time will tell. We might have to get a companion animal in at some point but we will wait and see.

As much as losing them hurts, you can never regret having them in your family. Losing a horse that has been with you for twenty years is a horrible experience but you have to remember the good times.

Thanks for reading, would love to hear some stories about your own pets in the comments!

Mark