Ralphie was the most gorgeous & loving 5 year old standard poodle. 
He was a very special boy who most of the time thought he was part human! He loved to watch tv & always needed a pillow to rest his head on, he would always stand up on his back legs to greet me and rest his front legs on my shoulders to give me a cuddle or even to have a dance with me in the kitchen when the music was on and he always liked to het in on a selfie. 

Despite being a poodle who are known as being water dogs he hated the water and any wet weather, he wouldn't even go into the garden if the grass was wet. He absolutley loved his toy toys and was a sucker for anything cuddly and he loved to play with a ball. He would empty the entire toy box because he could never just have one he had to have them all. 
He was the best at cuddles and would take any oppertunity to snuggle with me. He loved his humans and just constantly needed to be around them even that meant barging into the bathroom to be with me. 
He would always paitently wait for me to have my shower and where ever i was in the house he had to be.
He was a clever boy who would 'speak' whenever he wanted something and if he needed attention he would repeatedly tap me with his paw, he did this most mornings when trying to have my coffee because he wanted cuddles first. He had a thing for smiling with his teeth and wagging his tail.
He loved going on walks & always got so excited to go out and exlpore. His lanky poodle legs would go so fast it was as if he was always in a rush to get somewhere & he got particularly excited seeing other dogs about & would be very vocal about it becuase he just wanted to be friends with them and play. 

Sadly for Ralph life challenged him a little bit by giving him 13 different outdoor allergies which caused him to have constant ear infections which meant lots of ear flushes & daily cleaning but this didnt stop him and we found ways to manage it & keep him comfortable so he stiil had a good quality of life & was always such a happy boy. 
Then one day out of the blue he became suddenly poorly with Pancreatitis which caused him to fill with fluid and little did we know that was the start of a long sad journey, He continued to have flare ups and each time they got worse and caused more health concerns like low B12 and issues with other levels and weight loss. We tried many mediactions, saw several specialits & did many tests, we then thought we finally got a diagnoses of IBD and could treat him & manage it so he could get better and continue his life. 
sadly this was not the case & no matter how many treatments, foods , medications, injections  we tried Ralphie wasn't getting better, he continued to get poorly. He needed to be hopitalised many times & we got to the point where he was incredibly thin & poorly and a shell of the bright bouncy boy he used to be.
At just 5 years old, a year & half later after speaking with many vets we had exhausted all options and it was then down the choice of continuing to trial other medications & surgeries and gamble with  his health and well being to keep him here and try to make him better with no garuntees anything would work or to end his suffering and prevent him from anymore trauma. 

on 29/08/23 I made that devestating decision to  peacefully say goodbye to my beautiful boy who did not deserve to suffer and who deserved so much more. 
I really thought he would get better and his illness would be managable and we would have to much more time together. 

He was the purest form of love & loyalty and friendship and was my life, soul and purpose.
He added so much joy and love and happiness to my life and i can only hope i gave him the same in those 5 short years i had with him.