Ben - 02 October 1993 - 14 September 2004
Ben was born on 02 October 1993. Sired by Kaos Kennels Blue and his Dam being Kaos Kennels Sky, our five hour drive to pick him up from Liverpool was the longest drive ever, as none of us could wait to get there. We had got in touch with KKs approx a year before Ben was born, we had wanted a puppy from Blue and Sky for a long time as they were two of the best looking blue's we had seen.
Sire KK's Blue Dam KK's Sky
Ben was our first Blue SBT, we had owned dogs before and expected Ben to be similar to them, but we were so wrong. At three month's old Ben managed to chew most of the frame on a king size pinewood bed as well as completely demolishing our very expensive leather sofa's. It was evident right from the start, Ben would need so much more than just a walk in the park. As time went on we began to understand Ben and the SBT breed in general, we found that he needed regular and vigorous training as he had more energy than we had ever seen in a dog. Ben would play in the park for hours and would give us his puppy eyes when it was time to go home.
Ben 3 months old x
Ben grew up to be a fantastic looking boy, he was handsome, energetic, fit, confident and best of all my own personal body guard. Ben would not leave my side and would be extra vigilant on walks in the dark. He loved cuddles and would be a big, soppy, clummsy puppy at times, making us laugh at his antics.
Ben brought us so much happiness and we were so proud of what a fantastic dog we had. He really taught us so much.
At 7 years old Ben developed a lump on his chest which was removed, however over the following few years the lumps became larger and more frequent.
It was in Aug 2004, that we got the news we had dreaded. Our vet Matthew called us into the surgery to tell us that Ben had developed cancer in his lungs and stomach and Ben did'nt have long to live.
Our world collapsed Ben was our boy, he was too young to go. Matthew offered us Chemotherapy, but we did'nt want to put Ben through it, Samson had been through it and we think it only prolonged the suffering. Ben had'nt shown signs of serious deterioration yet, so Matthew advised us to let Ben carry on as usual and when we felt he was in pain or becoming ill, to let him know.
Ben did start to deteriorate soon after, that was obvious when he refused to eat prime steak (his favourite). We could'nt see our boy go through anymore pain and asked Matthew to come to our home and euthanise Ben.
On 14th September 2004, Matthew came to our home to put Ben to sleep, it was so strange our boy was'nt a great fan of Matthew and would often give him a whimpering growl just at the sight of him, after all he was the horrible man that gave him all these injections, however on this day Ben did'nt even lift his head, he lay silently in my brothers arms, as though he knew why Matthew was there.
We still miss Ben dearly and I know, I hope that one day when i'm called upon that I can be re-united with my boy.
R.I.P my baby boy xxxx
A day out in Windsor, Ben and Storm.
This picture was taken four days before Ben was put to sleep, he had deteriorated a lot at this stage.
'My Amazing Ben' is a poem I wrote when we lost Ben, it is featured on our memorial page.