R.I.P Betty 19.07.2005 - 21.07.2014

I don't know where to start in summing up Betty, she truely was a dog in a million. I bought her Mum, Daphne, bred by Anita Bax, because I loved the sound temperament  in her line. Daphne was a bold dog who had no idea she was small, never yappy or nervy she lived life to the full. Betty was one of two pups in Daphne' last litter, I knew I had to keep one of these little crackers, but had slight reservations because they were both really tiny pups, I kept Betty purely because she was the bigger of the two and I knew I would want her to have puppies at some point.
Betty was, if anything, bolder than her Mum, she was the happiest girl you could wish for, always delighted to meet everyone and was adept at sneaking on any available lap, pretty much unnoticed. She remained tiny, maturing at approx 9" and most of her adult life she weighed just 1.65kg. Despite her size she had true determination and insisted she was never left out of anything, she happily accompanied me on treks across Dartmoor and always drew a crowd in the pub afterwards. At home she kept the big dogs in check, using them as a very comfortable bed on a cold evening or humping their heads when she was in season!!
Last year she started to have problems with her knees, they became very unstable and would give way on her with no warning, she never complained and it didn't stop her wanting to do things. It did however reach a stage that she just couldn't physically undertake a proper walk so towards the end of last year her walks were substituted with outings, a car ride, a trip to the pub, a picnic on Dartmoor etc etc. About a month ago she suddenly became very lame on her right front leg, she was put on pain killers but these did nothing to alleviate her discomfort, different pain killers were tried, still she remained very lame. Xray's revealed significant arthritis in both her shoulder and elbow, and also showed the start of arthritis on the joints of her left front leg. A last attempt at controlling the pain was made with huge doses of pain killers to no effect. She still remained bright and cheerful, she was still excited to go out in the car, she still was determined to spend every evening curled up on Grahams lap (she adored Graham, a feeling that was mutual) but when she span round in excitement her knees would give way and we had to help her back up and all the time her front leg was being held out, a decision had to be made.
Today was that day, both Graham and I are so upset, I now understand why people say they won't get another dog of the same breed, I will never find such a sound little dog as she was and I will never get another toy poodle, she will never be replaced. She left us with a degree of dignity, it would have been so easy to look at her waggy tail and think she was fine, but she wasn't, and her bravery did not make her enduring a life of pain the right thing to do. R.I.P little lady.