Almost 15 years ago these two little fluffpots came into our lives, 2 sisters from the same litter of Miniature Schnauzers. On the left is Maxie and on the right is Pepper.
They grew up into fine, healthy girls. Here is Maxie, the boss. She had the most beautiful, thick, soft coat but boy did it tangle.
And here is Pepper, who was the runt of the litter, although as you can see, she caught up fast! She is sitting in her favourite pose aka "the bear".
During their younger years they suffered the humiliations of the festive season with good grace.
Pepper, being the underdog, had food issues and devised all sorts of ways to stop Maxie nicking her grub. Here she is napping, with her rawhide chew safely ensconced in her mouth.
They posed beautifully for photos, if you were quick! Maxie left, Pepper right.
The girls loved nothing better than cuddles. Here is Maxie snuggled up to Steve's left side...
But you can't have one without the other so here is Pepper snuggled up to Steve's right side.
And better still, here is a big group hug with Grandma!
Failing that, they were very devoted to each other so flipside cuddles were most satisfactory too.
A big part of their lives was attention to their coiffure. I used to clip them myself, but always felt sorry for them in winter, so let them get shaggy. This particular year I think I went a bit overboard, Maxie on the left and Pepper on the right are barely recognisable to their breed!
Right, Maxie first. Here she is looking very sad as the clippers have come out, Maxie did not like being clipped. As her coat was quite thick, her appointment with her hairdresser mother always took longer. I learned long ago to clip fast as under that mop of hair is the mind of an escape artist, if I turned my back she'd be off!
There, a Maxie schnauzer appears from under all that fluff!
Here we are at the halfway mark, with fuzzball Pepper on the left and newly shorn Maxie on the right.
Ok Pepper, it's your turn. She was a lot easier to clip as her coat was coarse and a lot thinner than Maxies, although you wouldn't know it from the photo!
There! Pepper emerges from under her fur coat looking dapper.
Now, bathtime! Here we have Pepper look content (although do I detect a slight sneer in response to horrid water) after a good scrub to get rid of all the itchy bits of cut fur.
Maxie excelled at the pathetic face.
The first clip and bath after winter always took about half a day, but here are Maxie left and Pepper right looking spiffy and smelling sweet.
Life pottered on happily, until the entrance of THE CAT aka The Overlord. Maxie and Pepper soon learned to just do whatever the cat wanted them to do and everyone was happy.
There were a few bed issues. Here are the girls looking most perplexed after Asta parked herself in their new bed!
Pepper got her revenge however.
In 2010 when we bought our country land, the girls tasted the life of the great outdoors on a grander scale. Here is Pepper on the left and Maxie on the right, securely attached to leads. Maxie in particular was thrilled to bits with the sight of kangaroos and used to quiver in anticipation of a good chase - no way girlie!
They enjoyed coming down to stay in the shed, as long as I packed their jarmies for those chilly nights. Sadly, this is the last photo taken of Maxie in September 2010. She died of melanoma on the 15th of December 2010. I still miss you beautiful girl xx
After a few months of getting used to being a lone dog, Pepper slowly settled down into that life. She quite enjoyed living in the shed and loved her snuggly warm bed.
She even endured being taken to the beach. Pepper liked walking on the beach but if one drop of water hit those toes then she would head for the towel. That girl did not like getting wet!
During 2012, Pepper's health deteriorated. We didn't want to take her to the vet, knowing in our hearts what was going be said to us. Finally, after a bad week we took her and on Thursday the 7th of February 2013, Pepper was peacefully and gently put to sleep while the tears poured. It is just not the same around here, I keep seeing her out of the corner of my eye, and the tears flowed again last night when I forgot and went to sweep some grated cheese on the floor for her, she absolutely loved cheese.
So this little fluffball here, the runt of her litter, lived for a fortnight off 15 years.
She lived her life quietly and cutely, very much a homebody, liking nothing more than a good snooze.
As usual - a beautiful piece of writing, Dy? Anne
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