The day Barnaby died our dog put a cuddly toy on his bed. It's still there

BARNABY Webber's pet dog left a cuddly toy on his bed the day he died and has not touched it since.

- MARTIN PRICKER

Dougie, an 11-year-old Jack Russell/ chihuahua rescue cross, walked into the teenager's bedroom on June 13 last year.

He left the giraffe soft toy on Barnaby's bed, where it still remains.

Barnaby's mum Emma told the Mirror: "Barney adored Dougie. He called him 'Big Man"." Emma goes into his bedroom every evening to turn on his light and returns to turn it off before bed.

She said: "It's just something I like to do. It's a comforting thing, like he's still there I guess." A year on from his death, everywhere Emma goes she is greeted by reminders of her eldest child, who excelled at cricket and rugby.

She said: "I miss him. His presence.

Looking at him. Just him being here.

He was always there.

"From being pregnant, to him being in the world. Just that space, that emptiness. It doesn't get any easier.

"That's the thing with grief, small things can trigger you.

"It can be anything. A song, a memory, a road sign, places you have been. Taunton is a big town but there is not a single part that doesn't have memories of him, one way or another."

Cards and letters simply addressed to "Barney's parents, Taunton" arrive at the family home every day.

Well-wishers send gifts including hand-crafted pebbles and crystal dream-catchers.

"I suppose in a really dark world, for us it shows us there is some good out there," Emma said.

BOTHERED

"It's very easy to think everything is bad. If I have a pound for every time I hear 'I can't imagine what you're going through' or 'I've got children the same age' or 'It's every parents' nightmare', I'd be able to pay the mortgage off.