Murdoch
One of a Kind

Murdoch was a pedigree Pekinese that was given to us by a very good friend, who owned Murdoch’s father Jason.

Jason was sent to stud, and instead of being paid the usual stud fee, our friend Steve was given his pick of the litter that Jason sired.

He chose Murdoch and gave him to us as a Christmas present. When he arrived he was still very small; in fact he was small enough to fit inside the box a pair of baby’s shoes came in.

Right from the start Murdoch had an eccentric nature, which was why we named him after the loony member of the "A" Team.

When we first got him we had to feed him on small amounts of raw minced meat, we were told that as he got older we should switch him to a good brand of dog food. But in all the years that we had him he would not eat dog food, we used to have get chicken pieces, which my wife would then cook for him. We once bought him a marrowbone as a treat to chew but all he did was bark at it until we took it away.

He was a very stubborn dog, and would only learn, and do the things he wanted to do, for instance he quite happily learned how to go up stairs but refused to learn how to come down. We tried tempting him down with his dinner, with treats, with his favorite toys, and by calling and cajoling but nothing worked. All that would happen is that he would bark until someone carried him down.

This did have its up side though, because if we wanted to keep him out of the way for any reason, (e.g. to stop him chasing the vacuum cleaner, or if the front door was open). We would put him on the third step up, and he would just lie there until someone came to get him down. If he thought he had been left there for too long he would go to the top of stairs and start barking, and wouldn’t stop until someone came for him.

Murdoch was never one for wanting very long walks, and as he got older these got shorter and shorter. He would let you know when he had gone as far as he wanted to go by lying down, and would not move even if you tried to drag him, until you said home. He would then get up and quite happily lead you all the way home.

The biggest problem that we had, with him was trying to keep him groomed, he hated being brushed he hated being neat and tidy. Even though he was a small dog, it was always a major battle to cut his claws, and brush the knots out of his fur. Although saying that, he did like to be bathed.

After a generally healthy life Murdoch died in 1997 aged thirteen, Steve had told us when he gave us the dog, that this breed of dog does not live much past eleven years old. But we were still very upset and surprised when he went because he was not unwell at the time. The vet told us that it was just old age.

We had Murdoch cremated and his ashes returned to us, which we buried in our back garden and planted a bush over him as a marker.

Murdoch, a great family pet, loved, missed and not forgotten.

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