STEVE ’ S STORY
Steve McQueen
28.8.2015 - 22.3.24
On 22nd February this year my beautiful collie , Steve McQueen was diagnosed with Lymphoma . Even though our vet said that we ' d done well to spot this in the early stages , it turned out to be a very aggressive form of the disease which meant on the 22nd March the vet came to our home and Steve was put very peacefully to sleep . We didn ' t want him to suffer and he fell asleep in my arms .
Stevie was a very special collie , ( I understand that every collie owner must say the same ) and I wanted to share his story as he overcame so many difficulties . He was so sensitive to noise , I thought it may help others . We brought him home in November 2015 , he was beautiful and our fourth collie . He was more timid than the others we ' d owned but he soon settled in .
During 2016 he went on his first two camping holidays , many day trips , 4 VW shows / festivals and a camping road trip . We took great care with his noise sensitivity and he did really well . Our problems really began in late October when we took him out for his evening walk at around 5.00pm and during that walk someone let off a fire bomb repeater very close by . It was awful , the sky turned green , the noise was horrendous , other people were also out with dogs , Stevie was terrified .
We struggled on after that awful experience but he gradually closed in on himself , it didn ' t help with more fireworks in November . After a day trip to Whitby on November 20th which he seemed to enjoy , he completely closed off . When taking him out to a local sports field , he wouldn ' t walk unless another dog was available to walk with . On one occasion my husband had to leave him with a friend and her two dogs , while he came home to fetch the car to take him home in .
If he heard even a car door being shut it was too much noise . In desperation , my husband consulted a dog psychologist who said that we weren ' t actually doing anything wrong , and to persevere with patience . I researched flyball and we took him to visit a local team . Many people thought that I was a little mad doing this , as anyone who has witnessed the sport knows it is extremely noisy . However , it ' s dog noise , not fireworks or banging doors or motorbikes . It was also something he could learn to do and to think about .
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