Pixie the pooch lived a long life and was loved until the end

The female jack russell terrier, miniature fox terrier and chihuahua mix ("all the nippy breeds," Annalise laughed) was such a huge part of her human's life that when Pixie passed away earlier this year, Annalise had her cremated so she could keep her ashes close and sprinkled some of her hairs in her "spirit place", her old back yard.

She passed away from a bad seizure, but Annalise said she lived a very good life.

"I had her for 12 years. She was an amazing little dog, she was my best friend.

"She was very much a gardener, she liked to dig up the garden! She also liked to jump all around - especially when she saw food."

Perhaps due to the jack russell in her, Pixie was "very protective" over Annalise and her family.

"It took my partner one year to be friends with her, and a lot of treats!" she laughed.

When Pixie first came in to Annalise's life, her dog mother had rejected her.

"She was the size of my hand. We had to give her milk and nurse her. She was so tiny, I had to cut up my sock and cut out little leg holes for her to wear so she wasn't cold in winter."

Even though Pixie had quite the 'green thumb' in the garden, she wasn't that interested in going for walks, preferring to be carried like a baby by Annalise.

"Whenever I wanted to take her for a walk, she would sit down half way through the journey and I'd have to carry her. She would have a smile her on her face when I carried her," Annalise said.

"She was like a princess. But she was also known to be quite fat - she loved her food. She had many trips to the vet because of fatty foods. She had pancreatitis twice and we had to control her diet, until it was just chicken and rice.

"She also loved to sleep a lot, cuddle in her blanket, and when sitting on the lounge, she had to make sure her paw was in my lap.

"She would show her teeth and growl when others patted her, even though they were just saying how cute she was."