Dali passed away just past midday on the 10th September 2009 at the age of 15. He was my first dog, my best friend and companion. Goodnight my beautiful little boy, I will never forget you and I will always love you with all my heart.

Dali was my first dog and he was the one that first introduced me to the world of dog training, I took him to a local dog training club called 'Poole and District Dog Training Society' for puppy classes and quickly became hooked on Obedience. Within the year I had been taken in by the club as a committee member and then in September 1997 I took over as Hon. Secretary for the club and held that position for 8 years.

Dali successfully completed the Bronze, Silver and Gold KC Good Citizen Dog Tests. Achieving his Gold on the 4th November 2004.

He came to live with us when he was 8 weeks old, and he has certainly coped with whatever life has thrown at him. Dali is a real fighter, he was born with a condition called EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insuffiency) that prevents him from digesting his food properly. He also developed Megaesophagus about 7 years ago, which requires him to be fed in an as upright position as possible. Dali has become quite adapt at eating while standing on the stairs!

We have overcome both these problems by catering for his needs to be best of our ability. He gets special food and enzymes to help him with his digestive problems and the stairs have worked a treat for his megaosophagus.

It came as a blow when he was diagnosed with a malignant form of oral melanoma in April 2004, but we were very lucky as we noticed the lump on his gum within a day of it coming up. Dali was taken down to the vets and the lump was removed the very next day. He was left with a gaping wound in his mouth, where the vet had removed as much tissue as possible, in an attempt to remove as much of the affected area as he could. We were lucky and the cancer was removed and never came back.

As Dali aged his body started ailing although his mind was still willing, in the end we had to make the heart wrenching descision to let go and give our dear little boy sleep.