... into my life when I was about 10 years old and he was a part of my family for the next 12 years. I remember the day Mum & Dad told me I’d be going to pick out a puppy from a litter to have as my own. I prepared a bed for him in a box with a ticking clock to replace the regular beat of his own mother’s heart beat and a hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket to keep him warm. Pepi was a fox-terrier cross and he was adorable. He traveled everywhere with us, he loved sitting in the rear window of the Holden on the parcel shelf. He was small but he wasn’t frightened of anything, he was a courageous little dog who stood up to dogs double his size.

The only time I ever saw him subdued was when he had an embarrassing accident with a barbed wire fence which gave him a nasty scrape in his privates, but he soon bounced back. Pepi was a faithful friend and I still get a tear in my eye when I recall the day I came home and he wasn’t in his usual place, he had been gradually losing his eyesight, but not his adventurous spirit. Pepi died tragically on the road outside our home and his passing caused my family much grief. He was a terrific little dog and he’ll live on in our hearts forever, he is part of our family’s folk loric and he gave us many years of pleasure.