04/01/2025
Just short of ten years ago, I was waking up in our home in Abu Dhabi after a very heavy day at brunch the day before. Victoria was at a hairdressing appointment when she text me - “there’s a dog that’s been under a fire engine for two days and hasn’t moved - can we help?”.
20 minutes later I was en route and arrived at the firestation, where I was shown to a fire truck. Crawling down underneath, I was met with the saddest of sights - a young adult cocker spaniel that had some sort of eye injury, and was in an almost catatonic state. Normally when we did a rescue we had an idea of what we were dealing with - aggressive, trusting, affectionate, etc - but this dog showed no reaction at all. Horrendously matted and thin, he seemed to stare straight through me and so I lay there in the dust, under the truck, in 40c heat, for what seemed like an enternity, trying to gain his trust - but nothing. Eventually I decided he had to come out and so very carefully I put my hands on him and he allowed me to pull him out. I got him into the car and we took him straight to our rescue clinic and he shook the whole way there - a trait he never lost. We suspect whatever happened to him happened in a car.
Terribly malnourished and unable to walk, the examinations that week suggested he’d been kept in a cage that had led to his spine partially fusing, his nails had grown into his pads, it was suspected he had been beaten and, worst of all, someone had deliberately gouged one of his eyes out. It took over a week of hand feeding him until he got enough confidence to eat for himself, and we decided he was staying.
We named him Archie.
Initially defence-aggressive towards other dogs, he blossomed into the most gentle and kind soul. Our main patients were cats, particularly kittens; we took those that others had written off, and Archie became like a guardian, cleaning our various charges and nuzzling them gently. One particular kitten though adopted Archie - Manju - and he also ended up staying.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve and we found ourselves saying goodbye. Congestive heart failure nearly got him back in March, but he bounced back and defied expectations but sadly took a turn for the worse a week before Christmas and went downhill from there. We consulted with our vets overnight and agreed to bring him in for an emergency consultation that morning. I guess Victoria and I both knew we were coming back without him.
The kids were amazing - we explained throughout what was happening - but we were all left feeling a little bit broken on Christmas Eve.
Goodnight Archie - you were the most wonderful dog and we were so blessed that fate brought you to us.
We miss you terribly.
Steve - Archie’s Dad
