Last year, to our annual Schipperke meeting, I invited a lady who really wanted to meet the breed to find out if it was the type of dog for her.
Shortly after the meeting, she wrote to me and told me that she had ordered a Schipperke in Zealand. Since it was of a completely different lineage than my dogs, I was curious and offered to come over to meet the breeder, see the adult dogs and the puppies.
It was a really nice trip with a lot of dog talk, even though we didn't actually know each other.
We have met a few times since then for some joint training and a walk, and I know that the lady is really happy with P., who is now ten months old – even though, like most other Schipperke puppies, he has fleas on his feet and hay in his ears.
It was therefore something of a surprise, of the boring kind, when I saw last week that she had made a post on Facebook. “Sometimes things don’t go as expected,” I think her post began.
This was followed by a long explanation that, due to increasingly bad back pain, surgery and then a long course of rehabilitation, she could no longer offer a young dog like P. what he needed.
Since I have three dogs, unfortunately I couldn't help in any other way than by sharing her post and sending her a virtual hug.
A few days later I received an absolutely amazing message from her:
“It takes a village to raise a schipperke. People I barely know, only sporadically from the dog park and the apartment blocks where I live, have found a solution.”
The solution is for a couple who have a dog of their own to look after P. in their home for the next 4 – 6 months. When they are unable to have him for various reasons, P. moves into his original home with a dog sitter from the area, who then lends his apartment to the lady who owns P. Everything is arranged so that P. has as few places to interact as possible.
“At first I was crying for several days about having to get rid of P. Now I'm crying again, but with happiness about being able to keep him.”
I also shed a tear when I read her message. What a beautiful gesture!
We all know how painful it would be if we were in that situation ourselves – here was a group of people who took action and acted on the idea. Thank you so much for that!
We've had a quiet summer here. Mini and especially Audi have enjoyed having the whole family at home. In fact, Audi is quite convinced that everyone has had time off to entertain him.
Cookie is finally looking forward to everyone except mom going back to work and school - so she can have mom almost to herself.
By the way, the family has been expanded over the summer with three mallard ducks, a horse and several canary and budgie chicks.
About this week's blogger:
Helene is an early retiree and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal team consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls. And now she and Cookie can also call themselves a reading dog team.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.
When dog people help each other
Last year, to our annual Schipperke meeting, I invited a lady who really wanted to meet the breed to find out if it was the type of dog for her.
Shortly after the meeting, she wrote to me and told me that she had ordered a Schipperke in Zealand. Since it was of a completely different lineage than my dogs, I was curious and offered to come over to meet the breeder, see the adult dogs and the puppies.
It was a really nice trip with a lot of dog talk, even though we didn't actually know each other.
We have met a few times since then for some joint training and a walk, and I know that the lady is really happy with P., who is now ten months old – even though, like most other Schipperke puppies, he has fleas on his feet and hay in his ears.
It was therefore something of a surprise, of the boring kind, when I saw last week that she had made a post on Facebook. “Sometimes things don’t go as expected,” I think her post began.
This was followed by a long explanation that, due to increasingly bad back pain, surgery and then a long course of rehabilitation, she could no longer offer a young dog like P. what he needed.
Since I have three dogs, unfortunately I couldn't help in any other way than by sharing her post and sending her a virtual hug.
A few days later I received an absolutely amazing message from her:
“It takes a village to raise a schipperke. People I barely know, only sporadically from the dog park and the apartment blocks where I live, have found a solution.”
The solution is for a couple who have a dog of their own to look after P. in their home for the next 4 – 6 months. When they are unable to have him for various reasons, P. moves into his original home with a dog sitter from the area, who then lends his apartment to the lady who owns P. Everything is arranged so that P. has as few places to interact as possible.
“At first I was crying for several days about having to get rid of P. Now I'm crying again, but with happiness about being able to keep him.”
I also shed a tear when I read her message. What a beautiful gesture!
We all know how painful it would be if we were in that situation ourselves – here was a group of people who took action and acted on the idea. Thank you so much for that!
We've had a quiet summer here. Mini and especially Audi have enjoyed having the whole family at home. In fact, Audi is quite convinced that everyone has had time off to entertain him.
Cookie is finally looking forward to everyone except mom going back to work and school - so she can have mom almost to herself.
By the way, the family has been expanded over the summer with three mallard ducks, a horse and several canary and budgie chicks.
About this week's blogger:
Helene is an early retiree and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal team consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls. And now she and Cookie can also call themselves a reading dog team.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.