“Man, it sucks writing this. Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to the 5th member of the household. Pepper was our family, our sister, our daughter, our everything. We were all obsessed with her. She was there for my Junior Cert, my Leaving Cert, and my college graduations. She was there when nobody else was. She gave me eternal comfort just by being herself. Her hilarious, annoying, compassionate self. The house genuinely feels empty without her. You know the day will come when you have to say goodbye to a loved one. I am grateful that we got to say goodbye to Pepper on our own terms. What a gal she was. 15 years is a long time. 15 years is not long enough in some cases.

I love you, Pepper. I won’t ever forget you, Pep. aka Peps, aka Pepsi, aka Pepper Marie, aka Pepperoni, aka Goesy, aka Pepperami, aka Bitch, aka Big Momma G.

See ya later x”

- @mrfinbrennan – Instagram.

I wrote that two days ago on Instagram; the day after our dog, Pepper was put to sleep. It has been a very tough couple of days and a very tough couple of weeks leading up to that inevitable day. I told you all about how she had been unwell on Friday. She wasn’t long for this world by then. You hear stories and you see films and TV shows where this has to happen. It doesn’t make it any easier. Like I said in my post above, I am just happy we got to say goodbye when we were all ready.

We got Pepper when I was in 1st year in 2008. She was 8 weeks old at the time. She had been through it all. She was attacked by other dogs and survived, she was knocked down by the postman and survived. She fell down a crevice on a rocky beach and survived. We used to laugh that she genuinely didn’t see herself as a skinny Yorkshire Terrier. She was as aggressive as a junkyard dog when she needed to be. But she was also incredibly loving towards everyone in the household. She was incredibly protective of the house and the household. She was the best.

She left us 4 days after her 15th birthday. I don’t have to tell you that she was a great age for a dog. That was 105 in dog years. She really did become a little old lady in the past couple of years. Her hearing started to go. Her eyesight started to go a bit as well. Her body started to slow down physically as well. However, her mind never left. She was still excited to see anyone who came in the door, and she was still willing to go on long walks on the beach, even though her body wasn’t. There’s a lesson in there for all of us.

The house feels weird and empty without her, but we will keep her memory alive by talking about her all day every day as if we didn’t do that already. There’s nobody like Pepper Marie Brennan and there won’t be anyone like her any time soon.

Thanks for being you, Pepper. I love you. I miss you and I hope you’re eating a crap ton of chicken wherever you are.

Thank you all for reading and thank you to everyone who has reached out after I shared the news. And thank you for your time.