Back then - about a decade ago - I was living with my parents again, temporarily.
Even though I struggled loads, in those days, this beautiful border collie always managed to cheer me up.
So much so, that I decided to make him the star of a short film of mine, back in 2012, a so called 'Dogumentary'.
It was the 7th entry in that years '12 movies 12 minutes' project, that ended up consisting of 9 shorts.
You can watch that film, as well as some pictures of this amazing dog and the Dutch landscape around Gouda, in my post from 3 years ago.
In fact, the picture above this write up is repurposed from that blog post, as I like it a lot and the clouds in the water seem to be fitting.
Surprisingly, that particular blog entry didn't even receive a single comment back then. Time to make up for that.
Here it is:
The short film that I link to, in the above, has a Dutch voice over and English subs.
We hear an interviewer, Fuji, who used to be my camera guy and editor, talk with the dog ( Spikkel ). I provide(d) the voice of Spikkel, who talks about himself, while a bunch of stills and video footage are being shown.
I prefer not to go into how Spikkel passed away, I read about it in our family Whatsapp chat, this mo(u)rning.
It was my mom, who decided to relieve him from his suffering, last night, hours after he had collapsed on what ended up being his last ( evening ) walk.
The news hit me pretty hard and Spikkel is the main subject that crosses my mind today. It's hard to focus on anything else.
Spikkel was one of my best friends and definitely my favorite animal, even though I haven't seen him much, in the last 4 years or so, since I moved to Portugal.
He was always so happy to see me,
even when he just heard my voice on the phone.
Now I think of it, it seems like every human being that knew him, loved him, even those that were more cat- than dog people.
If you wondered who used to be my other favorite dog, it was Spikkel's predecessor - also a border collie - and the dog that I grew up with ( born a year and 3 months before my twin sister and I, in July 1980 ), Dingle.
My parents named that one after a place in Ireland
and he lived with us until the ancient age of 15,
before he went to doggy heaven in, I believe, 1996.
Spikkel was adopted by my parents in 2011, and in between Dingle and Spikkel, they didn't have a dog for 15 years.
Long story short, they only had border collies and - perhaps not surprisingly so - this is my favorite type of dog.
Spikkel will be remembered as one of the sweetest dogs ever. He didn't even hurt a fly, even though he tried to catch them in his mouth, every now and then. Who doesn't? What dog doesn't?
He loved to play, he loved his freedom ( although he needed to spend most outdoor time on a leash, unfortunately ), he always seemed happy although he could act/ imitate grumpiness too ( espeically when tired ) and was a highly sensitive creature ( not unlike me ) that I sometimes suspected of being extra terrestrial haha!
He will be dearly missed but mainly remembered as a good friend and amazing creature.
Thanks to this digital age - and my filmmaking past - we have plenty of footage to reminisce our good times with this furry fellow.
This picture, taken a couple of months ago, shows Spikkel with one of his favorite toys ( a colored piece of chewing rope ), playing with my mom('s foot), in my parents' living room. They often played this rope pulling game, where my mom would use either her hand, or - on special occasions, I guess- her foot.
Life continues but we will never forget you, Spikkeloris.
