The Roberts bunch – Tia (left), Themba (centre) and Tara
Dear Zak,
I have to admit that it took a fair bit of doing to get them all together. Eventually Marianne had to go the bribery route as is appropriate for Zimbabwe. It took a biscuit and you can see Themba’s response. He’s our very own King of Drool!
Tara has settled down nicely, she no longer scratches compulsively. When we go walking at Komani she and Zak go running off together hoping to put up a francolin or guinea fowl. She’s fast, almost as fast as Themba though neither are as fast as you were. Yes, she lives up to her Goromonzi Greyhound “breed” description!
Tia has become and old dog. She still enjoys a gentle run but often just watches Themba and Tara race around. We lift her in and out of the truck now as she’s hurt her back a few times jumping in and out. Marianne says she’s becoming a bit fat. I think she’s exaggerating but anyway, she’s earned the right to a bit of comfort.
Now that the rains have started we are going out to Komani airstrip more often as the ART road can be very slippery even for a 4×4. It is a bit further but makes for more free running as there are no barbed wire fences for Themba to get gashed on.
We haven’t seen any reedbuck on ART for quite some time. I did hear from the manager that they’d caught a gang of poachers with dogs trying to do a bit of hunting on the farm. Do you remember the herds of reedbuck that you used to chase? Those were the days!
It’s been a while my boy. Time to bring you up to date, on Tia at least.
We think she must be about 10 years old by now. Marianne and I hadn’t been going out long when I got that fateful call from Di Fynn at the Wingate Golf Course. “Are you missing a dog?” We weren’t of course but when we saw the photo we said we’d take her if she wasn’t claimed. Of course she wasn’t (we think she’d been dumped along with her brother) and, after a brush with parvovirus, history was made. That was at least nine years ago and we thought she was about a year old then.
She was a pretty dog then and she’s still good looking but a lot more shaggy. Unlike me her hair has become more dense with age. We’ve had to call in a professional groomer on a few occasions to get her coat under control. She even has hairy paws – a bit like a hobbit! The hair around her neck and ears really is fine enough to qualify as fur.
Our TT. Still a sucker for affection and still licks whenever she can. Still as gentle as ever. She’ll be around for a few more years yet.
We met someone you’d have liked this afternoon – he loves his Ridgebacks!
Yuri is a Russian geologist who specialises in lithium and his contract has expired so he has to go back home. He has two lovely Ridgeback males that he has fallen in love with and would really like to take them home but didn’t know if it’s possible. We have got in touch with a company that specialises in moving pets around the world and they say that it certainly is but it won’t be cheap. There is also a challenge of finding an airline that will fly from Dubai to Russia because of the war with Ukraine.
The dogs are locally bred (he got them from someone else – not the breeder), brothers and inseparable. Before we came up with the plan to move them back to Russia Yuri said he wanted them adopted as a pair. Yuri comes from the south of Russia near the Caucasus mountains. He said they hunt wolves in the area. When I suggested he crossed one of his dogs with a wolf he replied “None of the locals would like me if I did that”.
When we asked Yuri when he was leaving he replied “I should have already left but I am looking for a solution for my dogs first”. We liked him. A lot.
We have lost our little Greeta, the SPCA special office dog. We still don’t know what went wrong (the results of the post-mortem are still out). Last weekend she started coughing badly so we took her to the 24hr vet who diagnosed kennel cough and treated accordingly and she appeared to improve a bit but was still coughing badly so we took her back on Monday and she was given an antibiotic injection which seemed to help. Tuesday we took her to another vet as she was down again and they changed the treatment and asked us to bring her back on Wednesday for an antibiotic drip. She was definitely perkier when we picked her up that afternoon and gave us a gentle wag of her tail – we really thought we were on the road to recovery.
Thursday morning Marianne let her out and then suddenly called me; “Come quickly, Greeta’s collapsed!” Poor girl, she dropped on the back verandah and her breathing was intermittent and she was unconscious. We tried to keep her going with CPR but her gums were purple and her pupils unresponsive. We rushed her off to the 24hr vet again but she’d gone by the time we got there.
We got Greeta from the SPCA last October. She’d been the office dog and was showing the result of all the treats – a little bit rotund she was! She got her name as she loved greeting all the visitors and we were assured she loved playing with other dogs. We were looking for a younger playmate for Themba (Tia is about 9 now and not so keen on playing), she seemed ideal and it didn’t take her long to fit in.
A happy family portrait, Themba, Tia and Greeta getting cosy with Marianne
We soon discovered she was clueless on directions and we had an anxious time when one morning she got lost on ART Farm. Fortunately she was wearing a GPS collar and we soon found her but thereafter she was walked on a lead!
Such a gentle girl she soon became known as Sweetie Greetie and responded well to training despite having had none that we could tell. She loved her training, running between Marianne and I, her long tail madly waving in big circles. Breakfast was also a favorite time for her getting first lick of my finger dipped in yogurt. Teatime, she would patiently wait for her piece of rusk and ever so gently take it from me. Teatime over she and Themba would start to play, chasing each other madly around the garden. She certainly wasn’t any longer the chubby girl that we’d adopted.
Waiting to go somewhere in the truck, Themba, Greeta and Tia
She was heavily into her comfort zone. We always knew where to find her – either on the couch or her cushion in the dining room. Persuading her to move off our bed in the evening and onto hers and Tia’s could take some patience. Who could blame her? We had little idea of her background before the SPCA but she did have old scars on her back and nose from what could have been caused by being hit by a vehicle. It was probably not an easy life but cut short far too soon.
We have buried her close to you – there really are too many dogs buried in this garden. Too many broken hearts. Yes, many precious memories too.
Precious girl, left far too soon. We loved her and she knew it.
Dear Zak, these memories are so hard to write. We take on you dogs knowing that we’ll outlive you but you make us so happy and we have such fun enjoying your company. Saying goodbye is so desperately sad.
Yes, it’s a traditional Sunday – a longer sleep in for us and bones for the dogs. Themba is not quite as obsessed with his bone as the others and will ask to get let back into the house before we are even fully dressed. Standards have definitely changed since your day – Marianne most certainly does NOT allow bones on the bed – so all bones must be left outside. Greeta will chew hers for a long time, Tia too but Themba is not that obsessed with his.
Everyone definitely knows that it’s Sunday and there’s often a bit of a false start when Greeta jumps up on the bed and Themba gets up to stretch. Marianne will ignore the hint and the culprits are told in no uncertain terms to go back to sleep. It only works once.
We are going away in September to the UK to see Duncan and friends and off to Italy for six days to see an old army buddy who made contact through my other blog. I have never been to Italy so am looking forward to seeing a new place – the house is in Cortona. We are hiring a dog-sitter to look after Themba, Tia and Greeta; yes he’s looked after them before and we are much happier with him than sending them out to a kennel.
It’s been a funny old winter – not very cold at all. We are still going out to ART farm early in the morning and it can be quite cold down in the vlei on the way there. On Monday it was 20C but by midday it was 28! The lands where we walk have had maize growing on them last season so the cattle have been put in to clean up the old stover. I’m not sure why they’d be interested in old, dry maize trash but they are and there’s a lot of dung around as a result. Themba and Tia love eating it! Why I cannot imagine, they get a VERY good diet at home and both Marianne and I find it infuriating. I don’t recall you ever being interested in dung but then my memory is not what it used to be which is one reason to keep going with this blog. One day I might need to rely on it and of course I’ll think of you and smile.
It finally rained today after more than six weeks of increasingly dry weather and temperatures hovering at 330C. It was not a lot of rain, 24mm to be exact, but very welcome and the grass will start growing again. There is supposed to be more around but this being and el Nino season unreliability and drought are the two most used words to describe the weather.
After tea we took a walk around the garden to see what needs doing. It’s been so dry that even the aloes have lost their vigour and have gone back to dry appearance – their leaves dull and curled. As we walked past the fish ponds I looked down at the graves; yours, Kharma’s, Roxy’s and Molly’s. So many stories.
Poor Molly, I let her down so badly and she was just starting to fit in too. One morning she jumped up on the bed and snuggled in behind me. Themba was instantly jealous and tried to muscle in on the affection.
Pretty Miss Molly
Now of course we have Greeta, the SPCA office dog who liked to greet everyone. She has fitted in really well but is quite a bit older than what we were led to believe and hasn’t ended up being the play companion for Themba that we’d hoped she would be be. We do have to be careful not to leave food close to the side of the counter though. She does have some big scars from the past – who knows what stories she could tell? She bears no grudges and is a pleasant soul.
It’s been just over two weeks since we said goodbye to Miss Molly, as I liked to call her. I miss her. She was so enthusiastic about everything, including chewing just about anything within reach. Toilet rolls were a favorite and of course shoes. This was despite being supplied with plentiful chew toys. We added some favorite plastic boxes to her grave just in case she needed them. Daft of course but sometime in the future someone might find her and see that she was loved.
Burying dogs with trinkets goes back some 5,000 years, so far as we know, so I like to think we were just following tradition. I buried Kim, Cassie, Tina and Jenni on the farm together with their bowls and wrapped in a blanket. I could see the gardener thought I was daft but was too polite to say so. Cassie and Kim were old dogs and had lived a full life and it was time to say goodbye, but it was much more painful to say goodbye to Tina and Jenni who were both too young.
I’d nearly lost Cassie when she was just about a year old to a snake bite, probably a puff-adder. The bush around Chinhoyi was thick with snakes and I came home one day to my girl with a massively swollen face and copious watery blood leaking from the bite sites on her muzzle. Of course all the vets in the area were at a function out of town so in desperation I phoned a local pig and cattle farmer. He said in a strong Afrikaans accent, “Ag man, bring her over, it won’t be a problem – my dogs get bitten all the time”. It was only 10 minutes away and he gave her a shot of penicillin and told me to take here to a vet in the morning. The vet injected her still massively swollen muzzle with cortisone. Three days later the swelling started to subside and by the fifth day I had my happy girl back. To the end of her nearly 14 year-long life she had a very special panicky bark for snakes.
Poor Molly, I let her down in the worst way imaginable and she was so young and starting to get affectionate with me. We buried her in the doggy graveyard that now holds five special friends, too many by far.
It was the VAWZ Scruffs Day last Sunday so we decided to take Molly along, she being a genuine rescue and a “scruff” to boot. Hey, she won a second prize in the Best Rescue Dog category!
Mum and Molly, 2nd in the Best Rescue Dog category. Molly is the one with the big smile!
There were lots of other categories of course and some agility displays too. We didn’t stay right until the end though. That’s when they have “The Dog the Judges Would Most Like to Take Home” category that Jenni won all those years ago. Jenni was not impressed with all the attention and just wanted to get to me and go home. If they’d had a Best Looking Dog award you’d most certainly have won it my boy.
I love you Mum!
I don’t recall a “Dog Most Like its Owner” class but there were a number who were remarkably alike.
Friends in action
There was plenty of time between categories for just plain fun.
Sam Fernandes and a friend
Lots of people and their dogs well known in the doggy world were there. Sam is a well-known trainer.
An agility dog on the course
An agility course was set up and several dogs and trainers showed how it was done. Some dogs were amazing others, shall we say, had a lot of fun! It was a great atmosphere and I think it went off well.
Molly continues to fit in very well. She and Themba play a lot which is why we got her and that’s also acceptable to Tia who sometimes joins in and otherwise is content to just watch.
Last night when I arrived back from flying models, Molly for the first time jumped up at my truck door and gave me kisses. Yes, I think it’s going to work out well with her although she is a bit of a barker which can be annoying. She has a thing about crows – they need to be barked at and she most certainly doesn’t know what to make about my drone, which is annoying.
I called in to the ZNSPCA office today to see Molly. She has just been spayed so we have to wait until Friday until we can pick her up. Yes, we are adopting another dog! Themba needs a playmate who can keep up with him now that Tia is getting on in years and Molly fits the bill at less than two years old.
Molly was found on the streets of Marondera, a small town about 80km to the east of here, just over a month ago. Marianne saw a post about how nobody had come forward to claim her and her future was not looking good so we decided to meet her. So last Wednesday we took along Themba and Tia to the ZNSPCA office on Enterprise road to see how they got along. They got on fine if one can call ignoring each other that. Molly (she didn’t have a name then) eventually came up to me for attention.
Today there was another guest – a puppy that had been confiscated off puppy vendors on the weekend. He was very sweet with a furiously wagging tail, desperate for attention and very grateful for the treats I’d brought Molly and some attention. Rejoice asked me what they should call him and I suggested Tuku after Oliver Mutukudzi, a famous local musician who died a few years back.
Love me please!
Poor little fellow, I hope someone offers him a home. Both he and Molly instinctively knew how to sit when being offered food. I tried Molly with the human version of a play-bow; patting the ground with both hands flat. She responded by tearing around the pen! I think she’ll fit right in.
I took Themba to work with me this afternoon. On the way back through ART Farm I let him out of the truck for a run. He’s not the runner you were my boy, loping along behind the truck in all the dust so I got him to jump back in after a short while which he did with indecent haste!
In January we got a message that a Ridgeback female had been found by the SPCA in Waterfalls in southern Harare. She was not in good shape but we decided that as she was young she might make a good friend for Themba as Tia is finding him a bit rough to play with (she’s not a young dog any longer). So we booked and appointment and went to meet her at the SPCA hospital on the airport road where she was being treated.
Poor girl, she was not in good shape; thin and covered in mange but we could see she was beautiful under the neglect. Timid at first, she gradually warmed to us. We were captivated and decided that she would make a good friend for Themba if he accepted her.
It was quickly discovered that her stomach was not in good shape – no surprises there as who knows what she’d been eating on the streets. Jenny Fynn and others on the local Rhodesian Ridgeback group quickly rallied round and with Marianne worked out a supply of chicken and rice. She put on weight but was slow to respond to the mange treatment which was bothering the team at the SPCA. Then last week it was decided that we’d turned the corner as she was growing a new coat of hair and had put on weight. We went out to the SPCA to see her.
Zara wanting to meet new friends.
She was delightful, friendly and loving – covering us with kisses.
An affectionate girl
We started making plans to get Themba and Tia to meet her. Then yesterday we got a call from one of the staff at the SPCA to say that her face had swollen up. We thought it time to get her out of the kennel environment and into our home.
This morning Marianne received a terrible call; Zara’s legs had swollen up overnight and the vet had made a decision to put her to sleep. It was likely that her kidneys had failed. Poor girl, who knows what she’d had to eat and drink whilst abandoned on the street.
We went to get her as by now we thought of her as part of the family. She’s home now my boy, lying close to you, Roxy and Kharma.
I am Zak 