Huxley was a non-dog-person’s dog; we called him a “gateway dog” because he helped so many of our family and friends overcome their fear of dogs or realise that they could love dogs. He came into our lives from a dog shelter in Idaho, USA in 2011 when he was about 1 year old, then moved to New Jersey, and finally to Bristol in January 2014. Over the course of 10 years in Bristol he took part in our wedding, welcomed two children to the family, and went through two house moves.
Huxley was one of a kind, with a DNA test revealing he was 25% shih tzu, 25% Pomeranian, 25% Australian cattle dog, and the remainder a dramatic mixture including French Mastiff… We don’t know his history before he was found as a stray, but being quite small, short legged and engulfed in thick beautiful fur, he never was particularly athletic so we would often muse that in his past life he made a living herding the wild potatoes of Idaho. However, Huxley was an ambitious dog, and he set himself the so-called ‘Noah’s Ark Challenge’, in which he aimed to chase two of every type of animal, with his most daring effort a huge wild boar in the Forest of Dean. His two trademark moves were sitting up and begging on his back legs waiting very patiently for you to give in and share your food; and lying down and refusing to walk because it was too hot, he thought there might be something interesting to eat in the other direction, or some of the group had been left behind.
When the children were babies, Huxley would make sure to position himself between them and any visitors who came to the house. Where we lived for the past few years we have had easy access to a park, and as his arthritis set in, and then heart disease, he still loved escaping out the front door to take himself for a little meander to the stream. During the kids’ bedtime he always walked up the two flights of stairs to lie down on our son’s pillow and had to be evicted. Huxley was loved by so many people; he was the best dog and we were very lucky to have had more than 13 years with him.
