01/11/2021
As many of you know, our Juno is very unwell and we are facing what all of us must do at the end of our dogs lives. We currently donāt know how bad it is, if there is any hope, or if we are on borrowed time. We hopefully will have answers to these questions tomorrow. At this stage, it looks to be liver cancer. The type and or prognosis is not yet clear, we may have a matter of weeks, we may have a matter of months or if weāre especially lucky, we may have years.
I thought this may be a good time to introduce everyone to our own gang, the dogs who form the basis of how we run our business, and how we treat the dogs in our care. We have 3 very distinct personalities in our dogs. In the top photo from left to right is Maxwell, Juno & Disco.
I adopted Juno when I was 23. Iād been fostering for about a year and I met Juno while collecting another dog to bring into foster care. She had just been surrendered and was in the bath, receiving some pampering before she was to be shipped off to a foster carer. For me, it was love at first sight. She was overweight and undergroomed and she had the energy of a puppy. She was almost 2 at the time. I was also overweight, undergroomed and had the energy of a puppy, so I think I related to her from the first moment. Seeing my excitement, the rescue switched things around and gave me Juno to foster. She was my 12th foster dog so by then I knew the routine- give her what she needs until the right home comes along. We met a lovely family who were interested in her. They had two young children, one of whom was struggling with multiple illnesses. As we spoke to them and the new owner relayed how excited she was to take her to school pickups and show her off to all of their friends I found myself so jealous. I told Juno that if she wants to come back, she just has to be as naughty as she can be while on trial. I sent her away with this beautiful family. While Juno was there, she picked the unwell child to relentlessly bark at. She gained the title of ānot good with childrenā and sent back into foster care. It wasnāt long after that that we made it official. Juno wasnāt going anywhere after that, she would be with us forever.
Juno is a very confident, sassy and bossy girl. She adores her human companions over dogs and she LOVES her food. Despite being labelled as not good with children- sheās fantastic with them. Over the years Juno has caused all sorts of trouble, most often by her greedy stomach. Sheās eaten all kinds of things she shouldnāt, sheās climbed dining tables and upturned many a rubbish bin (hence we havenāt owned a rubbish bin since adopting her). Probably the funniest time was when I hosted a party and left out a plate of gummy bears. She consumed every single gummy bear before a single guest arrived while my back was turned. She then vomited a small pile of gummy bears beneath the chairs of every guest, leaving nobody without the perfume of regurgitated gummy bears stinging their nostrils. Iāve chased her around the backyard trying to get a cooked chicken drumstick from her mouth which she subsequently swallowed whole, and the worst was when she ate an entire bag of liver treats and spewed from both ends at the same time for hours. Thanks to her we have learned (mostly) to keep things out of reach, and we have the animal poisons control hotline on speed dial.
Junoās favourite place is the beach, she truly comes alive with that puppy excitement and darts in and out of the water with such glee that you canāt help but smile. Sheās also quite the swimmer and happily paddles along beside us as we wade through the water. She has seen me through the awfulness that was my 20s, being a constant companion. Sheās wickedly intelligent and no matter how old she gets, still loves to learn new tricks. Juno was Georginaās first introduction to living with dogs, having to fight Juno for a spot in our bed and learning to bow to Junoās every whim.
Juno is supremely loved by all who meet her and currently has everyone in her life deeply concerned for her wellbeing. To have the overwhelming support of everyone has been a blessing that we are not taking for granted. To some, she might be just another dog. To us, she is the entire world.
Our other two are our boys, Maxwell & Disco.
Maxwell was a case of torture and neglect, the epitome of the āpound dogā you always hear about. He was 12 months old and extremely afraid of the world around him. Georgina found him on PetRescue whilst we were out at Bones Cafe one day and for her, it was love at first sight. Maxwell often looks much larger in photos so we truly had no idea how big he was. Turns out he was a whopping 7kg, smaller than Juno at 8kg. We ummed and ahhd about adopting a second dog, we didnāt know how Juno would cope not being the only child anymore. Turns out ānot wellā was the answer to that question. She didnāt take well to picking up this scrawny companion and bringing him home. Maxwell adored Juno from the first moment, much to Junoās dismay. He wanted to be close by, something Juno didnāt love but he persisted and their love for each other blossomed. They have been each otherās sidekicks for 6 years now. Maxwell has taught us how to slow down, that life can appear terrifying for some and that sometimes, we need to break things down into manageable bites before being able to cope with the big picture. He has taught us so much about engaging the world around him as a positive and enjoyable experience. This has obviously shaped how we now take on dogs who have some anxieties in the business now.
Lastly we have Disco. Disco was a whirlwind, unplanned moment in time when we agreed to take on a new foster dog after a short break. The owner who surrendered her didnāt know that she was pregnant. When we first saw Cookie, we knew instantly what a huge task was ahead. She had 6 puppies via cesarean as she was a tiny dog with an even smaller birth canal. We raised her puppies until they were 10 weeks of age and then sent 5 off to spectacular homes, deciding early on that we would be adopting Disco. He was around 3 weeks old when Georgina and I had the serious conversation about adding a third dog. I admit, I may have been a little more persuasive about the idea.
We raised Disco with the intention of having āthe perfect dogā. What could go wrong, weāve raised many puppies through the business, we are confident in our abilities right? We realised that there was no such thing as a āperfect dogā- after all, our entire business is based on loving these dogs for who they are, not what they could be. We support our client dogs in every possible way to ensure they live happy lives, rather than striving for the perfect dog.
Disco is far from perfect, in fact I donāt think you could get much further from it, but he is confident, he is smart, he is loveable and he is full of boundless energy that makes us all laugh and just enjoy the happiness he brings to life.
We all know how important our dogs are to us and those who know them. We adore their quirks and uniqueness and the joy they bring to our lives. Dogs live solely in the moment, they donāt hold a grudge, their excitement and zest for life is like no other. Sure, sometimes that zest for life goes against what we want them to do, we get upset when they bark or misbehave or chew something they werenāt supposed to, but at the end of each day, we are all so thankful for the privilege of having these beautiful, perfect in their own way souls in our lives. No matter how little or long we have them.
We also have our two cats, Ouzo (13) & Lennon (4), and our pet python, Oliver.
If thereās one thing to take from this very lengthy post, itās to love your dogs completely. Enjoy the love and joy they bring, we really never know when we wonāt have them any longer.
We hope to be back with you all soon š¶
