This summer I have procrastinated with culling my extra cockerels. For some reason, I've used every excuse possible to delay the day to fill my freezer with them. Then yesterday I had to put my 17 year old puppy Gemma, to sleep, she'd decided it was time, my special raw juicing & home made food worked no more. Our beloved Paraguayan rural vet came to our house to help me.
I thought he was just an expert with cows and such... no. He shed a few tears in my kitchen, because a few weeks ago he'd had to put his own beloved dog to sleep and found it a very hard thing to do. That is the 2nd vet I've made cry when one of our doggies decide it's time - I love both those vets!
Since I always shed a tear when culling any of my flock... we were now facing a river of tears that might drown the entire family! Then my lovely young Paraguayan friend mentioned he and his new bride had started a Saturday lunch party for the really poor Paraguayan kids in our area. They put on a meal, play guitar, sing and pass around second hand clothes for the kids each week.
He has helped cull my flock before, he is extremely fast and hates an animal suffering or fear.... I just struck GOLD! He is taking 1 or 2 of my cockerels each weeks to feed the kids.
My spoodle Gemma was lovingly nicknamed Monster for many reasons. I rescued her at 10 months old then discovered why! She soon scaled 5 foot fences when I was at work, so I tried 8 foot and then 12 foot.... then I gave up. She was very popular with the local council (Northern Australia) the women always put her with them in the a/c office they loved her company and knew what treats she liked - but I still have to pay $100 to collect her & leave work early. *sigh*
When going to the beach I would tie her to my big boy dog who adored her, until he got fed up with being dragged into the sunset, then I'd tie her to a log with a bucket trailing... strangers always thought I was mean and abused me... for about 2 seconds!
They then watched her suddenly race off and run +1000m into the horizon until the bucket filled with sand. Finally I could catch her and her energy levels were normalized so we could just walk normally as a group. Sometimes the angry strangers would start laughing and send their kids to bring her back - we figured it exhausted their kids and my Gemma so win-win. She calmed over time (years) and even people terrified of dogs were able to touch her and feel immensely proud of themselves.
She saved my family and other pets many times from death by deadly snakes. In 3 specific instances she alerted us to a hiding Taipan snake - one of the deadliest in the world. We'd would never have survived the trip to hospital.
I know it was time, she told me, but just few months ago she still had to chew squeaky toys and completely ruin them after stealing them from a puppy! I miss her, my heart hurts and when I paid one of my bills today the dear man didn't understand why I started smiling and then started weeping: grief just creeps up on you at the oddest moments.
I thought he was just an expert with cows and such... no. He shed a few tears in my kitchen, because a few weeks ago he'd had to put his own beloved dog to sleep and found it a very hard thing to do. That is the 2nd vet I've made cry when one of our doggies decide it's time - I love both those vets!
Since I always shed a tear when culling any of my flock... we were now facing a river of tears that might drown the entire family! Then my lovely young Paraguayan friend mentioned he and his new bride had started a Saturday lunch party for the really poor Paraguayan kids in our area. They put on a meal, play guitar, sing and pass around second hand clothes for the kids each week.
He has helped cull my flock before, he is extremely fast and hates an animal suffering or fear.... I just struck GOLD! He is taking 1 or 2 of my cockerels each weeks to feed the kids.
My spoodle Gemma was lovingly nicknamed Monster for many reasons. I rescued her at 10 months old then discovered why! She soon scaled 5 foot fences when I was at work, so I tried 8 foot and then 12 foot.... then I gave up. She was very popular with the local council (Northern Australia) the women always put her with them in the a/c office they loved her company and knew what treats she liked - but I still have to pay $100 to collect her & leave work early. *sigh*
When going to the beach I would tie her to my big boy dog who adored her, until he got fed up with being dragged into the sunset, then I'd tie her to a log with a bucket trailing... strangers always thought I was mean and abused me... for about 2 seconds!
They then watched her suddenly race off and run +1000m into the horizon until the bucket filled with sand. Finally I could catch her and her energy levels were normalized so we could just walk normally as a group. Sometimes the angry strangers would start laughing and send their kids to bring her back - we figured it exhausted their kids and my Gemma so win-win. She calmed over time (years) and even people terrified of dogs were able to touch her and feel immensely proud of themselves.
She saved my family and other pets many times from death by deadly snakes. In 3 specific instances she alerted us to a hiding Taipan snake - one of the deadliest in the world. We'd would never have survived the trip to hospital.
I know it was time, she told me, but just few months ago she still had to chew squeaky toys and completely ruin them after stealing them from a puppy! I miss her, my heart hurts and when I paid one of my bills today the dear man didn't understand why I started smiling and then started weeping: grief just creeps up on you at the oddest moments.
