whatever happened to Lucky the famous seafaring dog?

It's almost exactly three years ago since I posted about the book Lucky Goes to Sea, by Frank Robson. I loved this book, because it was centred on the dog and the love his humans had for him.

I remember quoting a sentence near the end of the story:
He's our once-in-a-lifetime dog, and even if he lives to be twenty (not that unusual among small breeds) it won't be enough.

I'm sad to hear that Lucky did not live long after the book was written.

I've just read this news in a letter written by Frank Robson to the editor of The Big Issue. He says, in part,

Sadly, not long after the cruising adventure outlined in the book ended and we came ashore, Lucky - then about 13 - succumbed to cancer. We tried going for a few short sails without him, but it just wasn't the same…so we sold the old trimaran and settled (for the time being) in Brisbane…it is a wonderful thing to adopt a dog and show him or her a good time, especially when their happiness lights up your world as Lucky's did.

RIP Lucky.

The Big Issue is my favourite magazine.

I think Lucky looked a lot like Penny. I asked her to pose with the two books, Lucky for Me, and Lucky Goes to Sea, but Penny doesn't like the camera pointing at her (as you can see by her nervous lip licking).

Penny's not really into reading books...

great dog book to read

I've just finished reading Frank Robson's book, Lucky Goes to Sea.

It's the sequel to Lucky for Me, which I loved.

I notice that in this sequel there's a small section that I've read previously in an article Frank Robson published a couple of years ago. He says he and his partner

refuse to be cowed by Australia's official war on dogs: if all the no-go zones were observed, dogs wouldn't be seen anywhere except sulking in backyards, which is crazy.

I wrote about how I felt Penny reacts to being on lead, after I read that article. It's interesting to me to look back at what I wrote, because for the last five months Penny has not walked off-lead at all, and in fact has even been on lead every moment she is in our own garden. She seems not to be bothered by that.

I can't wait until we are given permission for her to walk off-lead. The other day I asked the physio if we could let Penny off-lead in our own garden and she said, yes, certainly...if we could guarantee that Penny wouldn't run or jump. And that's not likely!

Anyway, back to the book...

It's wonderful. I loved every word of it. What I like about it is that the dog is the central point of the book, not like some stories where the dog is just a means of telling the story of the humans. In Lucky Goes to Sea, of course we find out what is happening in the humans' lives, but the love of their dog shines through.

And it's not depressing, as many dog stories are. It's upbeat and optimistic.

He does write about the inevitability of aging, but hopes Lucky will be around for many years to come:

He's our once-in-a-lifetime dog, and even if he lives to be twenty (not that unusual among small breeds) it won't be enough.

I sure know how he feels!