The Fantastic Mr Bryn

It is with huge regret and sadness that I announce that the fantastic Mr Bryn passed away at 10:40 am on December the 14th 2018.

What started as a limp, turned out to be a cancerous tumour on his sciatic nerve. Although he had a leg amputation to remove the tumour (and pain it was causing), a vestibular stroke a couple of days after his surgery meant that he was never able to recover his ability to walk and he was put to sleep 2 and a half weeks later.

For us, the story of Bryn started in May 2014. I was 2 months into my PhD (in Medical Sciences) when the researcher on the bench next to me began telling me how wonderful Greyhounds are as pets, and how she had recently rescued one. Having always wanted a dog I was hooked, and within a week I had arranged for us to go and visit the local greyhound rescue centre.

Bryn was both one of the oldest (aged 6) and quietest dogs there and gazed up at Tom through the bars of the kennel, longing for us to take him home. We walked him and one other younger dog (aged 3) before heading home to make our decision. A couple of weeks passed in which time we picked a younger dog but sheepishly had to return him out of fear for our cat (Harley), who had been seen as food. We almost gave up on the idea of getting a dog but something about the way Bryn had gazed so innocently at Tom on that first visit, made us keen to at least give Bryn a chance.

We installed dog gates and ensured there was a safe, dog-free space for our cat before finally bringing Bryn home on the 1st of June 2014, for a weeks trial. As soon as we got home he was off, sniffing everything around the house before hopping on the sofa and curling up in a spot that became his. We instantly fell in love with the muffin giving him a myriad of names over the 4 and a half years of having him: Bryn, Mr Bryn, Muffin, Mushroom, Panda, Bryndolwald, Doggy, Sniffy Dog, the PhD dog, and my personal favourite: Brynatha Christie author of the best selling titles Death (of the dog) on the Nile, and Murder (of the dog) on the Orient Express.

Slowly over the years, we got more confident with Bryn and Harley together, with Harley taking any opportunity he could get to be in Bryn’s face rubbing against Bryn’s snout and flopping onto his side at Bryn’s feet.

Words cannot express the loss we are currently feeling, and the emptiness felt at home. He was my best friend.

This website was created with Bryn in mind and will continue in his memory. Farewell, my friend, you were the most amazing dog we have ever met and it was a privilege to share our home with you.