LOVELY, GENTLE BOBO

BoBo was born in January 2012 and he died just a few weeks ago on 22nd September, 2025. He arrived at Grade Daze Rescue in 2014 after someone had been very cruel to him. He had burns to his face and head that were like the shape of a cigarette end. His coat was matted and dirty and he cowered in the presence of humans. In fact, he appeared terrified. Peter and Anita had their work cut out to gain his trust and bring him back to good health but within a few months he was a healthy trusting little fella.

BoBo joined our family in late summer of 2014. Peter drove him over to his new home and he was placed on the front lawn, he immediately ran and hid under a shrub. We then let Bert out and ‘BO’ came out of the foliage to meet him. From that day they were the best of friends and he loved Bert to bits. When Frodo joined them the three became ‘bestest’ friends and bosom buddies until, sadly, Bert died. BoBo remained a very shy, quiet and gentle little soul all of his life but he gave such love to all of our family. It is comforting to believe that BoBo is reunited in Rainbow Bridge with his bestest friend Bert who died in September 2024. Frodo and the rest of the family miss you terribly.

R.I.P. BoBo 2012 – 2025 A Beautiful Loving Companion

SOPHIE SOAPY THE SHOP CAT

Unfortunately, our little lucky black cat died recently.

We miss her friendly greetings. She kept us company in the shop and would lie in the windowsill listening to us and watching the birds in the trees.

Many of you will remember her saying hello as you browsed through the bric-a-brac. Soapy was definitely an outdoor cat, staying in her little hiding places throughout the worst of the winter weather. She stubbornly refused to be coaxed inside to keep warm.

Much to our worry and concern she loved to settle underneath the warm cars of the people visiting the Centre. In the summer she knew all the places to keep cool. Sadly, her nine lives ended a few weeks ago. The morning feeding time arrived and she was found in her favourite bed appearing to be soundly asleep.

Resting in Peace. Sophie Soapy

JACKIE BOY

Jackie Boy – a doggy gentleman, came to us at the age of 12 after it is thought his previous elderly owner had died. A quiet life with no hassle, food on a regular basis, water always on hand and a daily stroll were all that Jack wanted or enjoyed. He didn’t like a lot of fuss but enjoyed a nice chat and a pat on the head every now and then throughout the day. As he aged, Jack found it difficult to walk around the parks in the area but he enjoyed a ride in the car and would wait for his companions to have their daily constitutionals. His idea of exercise was to lope around the garden on the same route once a day after his main meal. When he began to lose his sight he went more slowly around the garden and got to know the route by following his nose. After a while the lopes got slower and shorter until it was just a visit outside for the essentials.

He snoozed most of the day, only waking to eat his food. He was very contented, always comfortable and as he drifted into his dotage he still responded to the conversations and enjoyed a gentle tickle behind the ears. His snoozes grew into deeper and deeper sleeps and his breathing became shallower until there was no more breathing and he was rested forever.

R.I.P. Jackie Boy – December 2006 to February 2024 – 18 years 1 month

Caramel

Sadly, on Friday, 30th October, Grande Daze lost one of our best friends, Caramel, the beautiful Golden Retriever companion of Delphine and her family.   We will always remember what a beautiful agility team the pair made and how much fun they had together on the course.  Caramel and Parsnip were wonderful friends.

We give our support to the family at this difficult time.  Caramel will be missed by everyone.

Anita, Peter and the Grande Daze Agility Team.   Rainbow Bridge

Michel

Nous avons le cœur brisé de partager cette page commémorative pour Michel décédé le 4 novembre 2019. Nous avons attendu jusqu’à présent pour vous l’annoncer à cause de notre propre chagrin et pour laisser un peu de temps à Patricia, sa femme.

Il est décédé en raison de nombreux problèmes de santé qui l’ont finalement conduit à une insuffisance cardiaque. Il laisse quatre beaux chiens de montagne pyrénéens et sa femme bien-aimée.

J’ai rencontré Michel et Patricia pour la première fois lorsque leurs chiots Montagne des Pyrénées avaient 5 mois. Étant merveilleusement excentriques, comme on l’être parfois avec nos chiens, ils ont décidé d’en garder 4 de la portée. Ils leurs étaient dévoués et entraînaient au moins 4 fois par semaine les chiots, ils sont aujourd’hui âgés de 9 ans. Malheureusement, l’un d’eux est décédé récemment d’un cancer.

Beaucoup d’entre vous ont eu la merveilleuse occasion de rencontrer Michel et Cookie Monster, il était connu et aimé de ses amis! Au cours de mes 35 années d’agility, je n’ai jamais rencontré un homme capable d’entraîner un chien de Montagne des Pyrénéen tel qu’il entraînait Cookie Monster à l’agility.

Son habileté à été jusqu’à lui apprendre le slalom, beaucoup d’entre vous savent à quel point c’est un obstacle difficile. Nous avons eu l’honneur de voir Michel et Cookie Monster rejoindre notre équipe de démonstration, sa dernière manifestation étant à Ernée en 2018 avant que la santé de Michel ne commence à se dégrader.

Il nous manquera tous terriblement car il avait une façon unique de s’entraîner! Il avait développer une méthode que nous avons nommée la méthode Arnac : une fois le parcours posé il avait le don de le travailler à son façon en prenant délibérément les mauvais obstacles, où des obstacles dans le mauvais sens, d’en rajouter et lui et Cookie Monster formaient la parfaite équipe car là où Michel lui disait d’aller Cookie Monster y allait sans jamais se tromper ! Donc à chaque fois que l’un d’entre nous faisons une erreur sur le parcours nous disons qu’il y a eu Arnac.

En l’honneur de Michel et Cookie Monster, le 24 mai, nous organisons une journée Fun Day et tous ceux qui ont une formation d’agility à Grande Daze sont invités à venir participer au concours Arnac. Plus de détails seront bientôt sur le site Web.

Michel s’en est allé pour retrouver Arayu et beaucoup de ses autres beaux chiens. Nous ne l’oublierons jamais, surtout quand nous avons une situation à Arnac!

De tout notre amour et pour tout les bons moments avec Michel.

De Anita et Peter Edwards, ainsi de tout ceux de l’équipe d’agility Grande Daze.


We are heartbroken to share this memorial page for Michel who died on 4th November 2019. We have waited until now to share it due to our own grief and to allow Patricia, his wife, some time.

He died due to many health problems which eventually led to heart failure. He leaves four beautiful Pyrenean mountain dogs and his beloved wife.

I first met Michel and Patricia when their Pyreneans were 5 months old. Being wonderfully eccentric, as most dog people are, they decided to keep 4 of their litter of puppies. They were devoted to them and trained at least 4 times a week with the pups, who are now 9 years old. Sadly one of them died of cancer recently.

Many of you had the wonderful opportunity to meet Michel and Cookie Monster, as he was known to his friends! In my 35 years of agility, I have never met a man who could train a Pyrenean mountain dog as he trained Cookie Monster.

His skill would go down as far as recalling the dog through the weave poles, many of you will know how difficult this is. We had the honour of having Michel and Cookie Monster joining our demonstration team, his last demonstration being in Ernée in 2018 before Michel’s health started to deteriorate.

We will all miss him dreadfully as he had a unique way of training! Many times taking the wrong obstacle on purpose, which all of us in the Grande Daze team call the Arnac manoeuvre, if we go wrong.

In honour of Michel and Cookie Monster, on 24th May we are having a doggy fun day and everyone who has ever trained agility at Grande Daze is invited to come and take part in the Arnac competition. More details will be on the website soon.

Michel has gone to Rainbow Bridge to be reunited with Arayu and many of his other beautiful dogs. We will never forget him, especially when we have an Arnac situation!

Fondest love and memories, Michel.

Anita & Peter Edwards and everyone in the Grande Daze agility team.

Parsnip

Our beloved Nippy, taken from us so swift on 03/10/2019. Peter and I have never had such a wonderful dog and we miss her dreadfully.

Not a day goes by now that we don’t smile at her memory. She was a wonderful assistant who helped many people smile and so many dogs with behaviour problems we lost count.

Darling Nippy, the hole you left will never be filled. It has taken Peter and I some time to mend. Now with your beloved memory and all you taught us we will continue our work while you run free to Rainbow Bridge.

We love you always,
Anita and Peter Edwards xxxx

Stella

Stella, a beautiful companion. A four legged friend who will never be forgotten.

In her early life Stella didn’t know love and affection – she was being trained to be a fighting dog; but she couldn’t make the grade because she wasn’t aggressive enough! After receiving physical and emotional scars Stella was abandoned by her cruel first owners. Fortunately, she found herself in a rescue centre where she was seen by a caring young man who fell in love with her and took her home.

Stella stayed all her life with this young man, who married and had children. This happy family loved Stella who became a faithful, gentle member of the family, travelling around the world and sharing their adventures. Sharing love and care helped Stella recover from a frightening, violent beginning. She lived for 17 years with her caring human companions sharing love and loyalty and only her physical scars gave a clue to her former life.

This beautiful dog was a glowing example of how love and care for a rescue dog can reverse a bad past and reveal a wonderful companion.

Sadly, Stella died in her 17th year. She will live on in the hearts of all those who knew her, especially, her loving family.

A special dog returned to stardust

Stella 2002 – 2019

 

Joyce: a big thank you

I first met Joyce when she asked me to clip her Springer Spaniel, Wiggi. Wiggi sadly died in her sleep several years ago, just as Joyce sadly did last month.

Joyce was an inspiration to all of us at Grande Daze. She never complained about the pain of her arthritis and adopted a disabled dog from us, Amie. No one could have understood the dog better than Joyce and, partly because of her disabilities, they became great friends. Soon after, Roger, Joyce’s husband, adopted Rolo from us to make the family complete.

We were all very shocked and sad to hear of the passing of Joyce but happy that she left for Rainbow Bridge peacefully, without the trauma of a long stay in hospital. We will never be able to put into words how grateful we are that Joyce left wishes for donations in her memory to be made to us.

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the people that have given, above all our best wishes go to the family, especially Roger, Amie and Rolo, who we will continue to keep in contact with.

Due to the donations given, Grande Daze is now able to commence work on our hydrotherapy pool to aid dogs with a wide variety of health issues, which we know Joyce would approve of.  Rainbow Bridge

Bertie

How sad we are that little Bertie has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. No one will miss him more than Dave.

They never mean to break your heart when they go. Ladies and gentleman beware when you give your heart to a dog to tear.

Please know that he’s at peace now and no longer uncomfortable and in pain.

Love to Carol and Dave from all at Grande Daze.

 

Maddi

With the best memories in the world of this dear man and may he be happy now both his friends, Lilly & Maddi, have crossed the bridge.
I have known the Carpenter family for almost 28 years and have had the best job in the world of keeping their dogs smart. I first met Mrs C when I went to clip an Old English Sheepdog called Gemma and a hairy cross breed called Hatti. What wonderful times and memories. My fondest is when the girls return to the living room after hair cuts; the woolf whistles and cheers Mr & Mrs C would give to their dogs!

Dear Lilly and Maddi, I thank you also for letting me keep you smart. The last year of Maddi’s life was not easy for her with her legs and all the health problems an old dog can get. What wonderful, wonderful owners Clare & Mrs C are, nothing was too much trouble for their four legged friends. Now at home with little Pippa.

Bless you both & thank you for letting me be a friend to your dogs. Please stay in touch.
Fondest wishes always,
Anita Edwards
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Maddi you gave us 15yrs of pure joy and companionship.
We will miss you with all our hearts but we thank god you came into our lives!
Run free Maddi across the rainbow bridge ?
Love from
Mena and Clare