I have decided to enter a special part in my galery dedicated to all my dogs! The photographs that I will post in there are maybe not of a great quality or technique, so please be aware that this section is opened purely for emotional reasons: as a tribute to all my dogs who ARE my life!
You can view all photos in this special gallery at: nellista.deviantart.com/galler….
I am also quite aware that this is going to be a long journal entry, but if you really are a dog's lover I'm more than certain you'll undersand my passion and you'll continue reading it, for which I thank you so much!
Oh...and also...please be aware of the fact that English is not my first language, therefore expect mistakes and be understanding!
Here I go:
Before December last year I used to have 7 dogs at a time, and there was a time in 2008 (like 4 months or so) when I had 13, as one of my girls had 7 puppies and it took some time to find them all good loving families!
Before I introduce them to you, I need to tell you that most of them were rescued from the streets, they were stray dogs and were literally struggling between life and death. Only the first two were of natural clean breed (poodles).
The dogs that absolutely ROCK or used to rock my world, are (in order of their appearance in my life):
1. JIMMY
2. BLACKIE
3. KENYA
4. DOBBY
5. LARA
6. DONNA
7. BUFFY
8. LOTTIE
9. MAX
Unfortunately I don't have pictures with JIMMY, as he was the very first one, my childhood friend, and I only have classical photos with him. As I don't have a scanner for the time being I won't be able to post any pictures of him!
I have decided to introduce them to you as, unfortunately, since December last year, I have lost quite a few of them and it really broke my heart! I want you to meet them, to get to know them, to admire them, to remember them!
1. JIMMY was quite a serious dog...he would not go crazy playing with the ball or running around his own tail, if you know what I mean....! He was very quiet and quite independent: he liked to do what he wanted to do WHEN he wanted to do! Even though he was serious....he had a long fun life in his own little world and died peacefully right before reaching 14 years of age!
His funniest adventure was the time when we took him with us to the mountains and carried him in a backpack...as we were climbing!
He had two generations of puppies; we kept Blackie from the first and Richie from the second; we gave Richie away to my aunty but he was ill and died a few years later.
2. BLACKIE
took from his father, Jimmy, the strong will...: he also liked to do what he wanted to do WHEN he wanted to do...but on top of that...he was having much more fun...! He was like a circus poodle, he used to jump fences three times as big as him and make us all wonder where was he keeping his springs...!!!! Unfortunately this huge pleasure of jumping big fences turned out to be in his disadvantage, as years later, he developed a very bad back problem which caused him lots and lots of pain...he was literally howling because of it...!Amongst lots of funny things that he was doing....I can easily recall how he used to love sucking pillow's corners (yup...he was shoving them deep down in his little mouth and started sucking and sucking....like they were the most tastefull dinner ever...lol), how he used to play hide and seek with my mom and me, how he used to sneak people's flip-flops on the beach at the seaside or how he used to collect the keys when dropped on the floor as that was his ultimate responsibility;
Blackie was our little Prince and he knew it, even when punished for something he DID wrong....he would still argue with us....as he thought he was entitled to do anything he pleased....!
He had a long loving life and died at 13, after a couple of years of being quite ill: he had diabetes, back problems and cardiac issues! My mom was like an angel to him....she took really really good care of him, she was patient and very careful with his daily medication (and trust me....there was quite a lot of medication involved...). Even if he had so many health problems we have never even discussed the possibility of putting him to sleep as we treat our dogs as human beings and therefore we think whatever is given to somebody to endure is part of their destiny and we simply can not decide upon life and death...!
3. KENYA
was a stray dog...she was actually the dog of our appartment building, meaning she belonged to everyone and anyone who would be nice enough to feed her! Some years ago, when the stray dogs problem became a huge issue in my country...lots of dogs were simply taken from the streets and killed. We've rescued Kenya and her brother Bobita (which means "Little Bubble" in my language) from the inhuman hands of so-called people and kept them on our balcony for a while till things chilled out a bit! As they were independent dogs we had to let them go out again as they were not comfortable in a flat...Bobita got poisoned bit later on by a criminal mind but Kenya was lucky enough to survive the jungle out there and we took her in with us when we moved to a house....!You can imagine that it might quite possibly have been her dreams come true: to be able to run free outside all the time but having someone to love and to care back for her....! It was only 2 years ago that it became obvious that Kenya was getting older: bear in mind that she was almost an adult dog when we had Blackie....so, even if we didn't really know her real age...., she must have been as old as Jimmy when she died last year in December. Towards the end of her life she kind of lived in her own little world, completely away....sometimes she would simply stand up, her head facing the ground, and....just looked like she was somehow contemplating....!
4. DOBBY
was the "guarding" dog that we felt like it was a must to have once we moved into our new house: we had Blackie and Kenya at that time, and to be honest with you neither of them WAS a guarding dog....lol! We initially found Dobby and Puppy but we had to give Puppy away to our neighbours, as they were not getting along very well....even if brothers! Now Dobby soon became the KING....he is a towering dog...and, even if we had another male in the house, the yard was his responsability!As quite a funny feature of his personality is the fact that he likes to dump all his food from the bowl before starting to eat...: lol, I guess some of us never forget our origins...!
He is still alive and full of life and we love every piece of his mightiness!
From all the girls that we have adopted later on, Dobby chose one to be his "lawfull wedded wife" and they had 7 absolutely gorgeous puppies.
5. LARA
was brought in by me when we were already living in the new house. She was very tiny and in a very bad estate. We washed her up in the sink (I remember it like it was yesterday...!) and loved her immensely! She grew beautifully, but she developed quite a strange personality: she was antisocial! She was living most of her days underneath things, trying to get covered for protection. She wasn't eager to show affection but in her good days....she was all just honey....!Unfortunately she died last year in December a little time after Kenya. She didn't die of natural causes, she was quite young...! She probably poisoned herself whilst catching a mouse which was passing our yard from the back neighbours...! (This was actually our assumption; we didn't want to believe that someone wanted to actually poison her...as they would have poisoned all of our dogs!) We found her in front of the door, still alive, but in a very bad estate. We called the vet, we struggled and stood with her all the time, hoping she would get better. She died couple of hours later watching deep down into our eyes as she was thanking us for all we had done for her!
6. DONNA
was brought in by my mom early on after I brought in Lara! I was amazed that she did so...as she was already saying that we had enough dogs....lol! Still....when she saw Donna's eyes...her soul melt instantly...!It turned out that everything about Donna is, as my boyfriend says, just love, love, love; Donna would never ever ever get enough of us: she would just lick and love us for hours! She does it so energetically and passionately that we actually feel refreshed after a Donna licking session! She is extremely gentle, and even if sometimes...she doesn't seem very bright...she is cute and so loving that we forgive her any other flaws....!
The only thing that I regret is that she has never had puppies and now it is bit too late for that as my mom wanted her to get fixed after our other girl had seven puppies and we've struggled to find good homes for them...! I can only imagine how her children would have been if she is the tenderness itself....!
7. BUFFY
...well...I found Buffy and she wasn't as little as the other ones! She was a grown puppy...maybe 5-6 months! But she was just running around on a street...and looked very very confused and scared! I already knew that my mom would go crazy if I brought in another dog, so, whilst staying with her and being tormented by having to take a quick decision, I started a conversation with a lady who was just passing by. She also loved dogs and felt sorry for the little one that I had just found...so...I tried to convince her to take her in as I already had too many dogs! It looked like I had succeeded...she accepted to take her in and as she was living just a few doors down my street, we concluded that we keep in touch! We did...but only when she came to bring her back to me, saying that her husband didn't agree with another dog (they already had one...). And so...we kept her...and we said it was only going to be till we find somebody else who wanted to adopt her! Lol...! That never happened, cause Buffy...IS amazing! I would not consider my life without her: she is the most humanized dog I have ever met! If she could only talk and I'm sure she'd say she is a human being! She is very understanding of all human feelings, she is very gentle in a very human way, meaning she literally embraces us, putting her head on our shoulders! She also likes talking (unfortunately in her own language...) but she does it in a very "dialogue-ish" way: we ask...she answers...! Even if she is a big dog, the biggest we have, she is very humble and knows her place and when she's done wrong....!She is also a fantastic mother. So has she been to her own puppies(7 of them...!) that she had with Dobby, but also to other ones who were complete strangers to her!
Oh...and another little thing of hers: SHE OPENS DOORS! Wow...indeed! And she doesn't do it in a chaotic way but with a real technique: stands up on her back feet, puts the paw precisely on the latch and pushes it firmly whilst slightly grabbing towards her but letting go with a perfect timing! The only flaw...oh well...you can only guess: she has never learned to close them back after her!
8. LOTTIE
...was a blessing! Me and my boyfriend found her in a very rainy morning whilst coming back home from our last day of work in a place that we didn't like and felt like quitting from! So...we were quite upset and concerned about what we were going to do...when we looked down on the street and noticed a little furry bowl all shivering and dirty! Her eyes were closed, her little paws were contracted and she was moaning! It was obvious she was gonna die...! And we couldn't let that happen! So we took her in, had to stand up in front of my mom's furry when she saw another dog coming in...but we've managed it! I can still remember her first little bath: the way she relaxed herself when she felt the warm water and the way she opened her eyes and started to wag her tail timorously as if she acknowledged us as her new guarding angels! We named her Lottie from "Lottery" because we felt like she had won the "Life Lottery"!Life wasn't exactly kind to her though! We've lost Lottie just a few weeks ago, after a terrible struggle with "parvovirosis", I am not sure if this is the correct translation, but it is a very agressive disease amongst only young puppies who haven't been vaccinated in time. Lottie HAD her first vaccines against this disease, as we found her last year in September, so she was due for it! But apparently...the vaccins are not 100% certain...!
Losing her so abruptly and quickly...completely destroyed us! We were confused and refused to accept she's gone! I would cry for hours...and I still cry for hours even now...as the house is not the same without her!
We miss all her little things: the way she loved to absolutely finish down books, lol...and by that I don't mean reading them...just ripping them appart...; the way she used to carry her food and water bowls through the house whenever she felt hungry or thirsty; the way she used to go crazy for the balls, really any size balls, but specially the big ones...!; and the way she used to looooove to pull my hair specifically! We feel that she has gone too soon and had so many things to do more...!
9. MAX!
Well....Max...is the living proof of a fighter!First thing, we never found him, HE found us! It was one morning when I came from work and almost getting ready to go to bed when I heard some really sharp puppy barking and crying right outside our yard gate! It was waaaay to obvious that someone was particularly lonely and scared so I had to go and check it out...! And there he was: sitting down exactly in front of our gate! Now...I don't really know and I can't explain how come out of so many other houses on our street he stopped at ours....but I know he did...he chose us and I couldn't just shut the door in his face! I took him in! We were down to four dogs after Kenya, Lara and Blackie's death, so there was actually room for more! He blended in perfectly....found the best playing team with Lottie still being a puppy and Buffy's great motherhood attitude! He very soon started to shape his own personality: very cuddle, very kissable, very hungry all the time and very much in love with water! He adores to play with water, he completely dives his little mouth in the bowl, tries to "bite" the water and then lifts it up in the air...spreading it all...well...all around him! He also loves to stay on the edge of the bathtub whenever someone is taking a shower, hoping to get a bit wet himself!
A month and a half after we had him, things started to get bad. He got really ill, started to vomit and he was really really lethargic. We got even more worried when Lottie got sick too, just a few days after him. It was a nightmare: they both started to have diarrhea and vomit with blood and even with all the vet treatment Lottie suddenly died one day! We thought we were gonna loose Max as well: after all he was younger than Lottie so we thought he was not strong enough! I am happy we were wrong! He proved us he really IS a fighter: he started to get better one week in the treatment, now he's back on his feet completely, back to his playfull and joyfull life and even if the playteam is short one member, I am so grateful he's still alive!
Thank you very much for having the pacience to read this, I hope you have been touched by dog's love!
Please feel free to talk to me about your own dog's stories and lives, feel free to share anything regarding dogs as I would definitely understand and be very supportive!
Have a great evening, dear friends!