Our own pets I (until 2008)
From my childhood until summer 2008
Yankee, a Bouvier des Flandres was rather agressive if anybody else than my mom approached my pram !
When I was 9, Yankee has been shot by a farmer. The man was fed up to see his hens slaughtered by our dog...
When I was 19, I owned a small black poodle, called Schproumpf.
He followed me everywhere, even in university. Which would not be allowed today.
In
1994, although my husband and I lived in Paris, we decided to take a drathaar : Jim.
We knew this hunting dog would feel fine in a flat in Paris, as we would go with him every weekend to our country home in Touraine.
There, he could run, jump into the river facing
our little house to pick up sticks of wood, play for hours in our garden.
Jim had to be put in pension when we were going abroad. Unfortunately, we could not let our swappers walk him in the streets of the capital, or even in the country : our dog was too often agressive with other dogs and even with human beings !
When
we dropped Jim the first time in a recommanded kennel, we were
scared he would feel very unhappy. But when we dropped him there the
second time, he did
not try to jump in our arms, he went moving his tail to the owner : we felt relieved. He seemed pretty enthusiastic to
see again some of his furry friends ! And as he seemed to like croquettes we stopped making him nice doggy meals...
In 2006 we left Paris, moved to Provence, in an old "mas" with a big garden.
We had noticed Jim was very fond of cats when we visited
friends who owned some feline. So we offered him a kitten. To keep him
company. even if he was used to stay alone.Leo, quite distant with us, loved instantly to sleep with him and looked very happy to be cuddled all day
Jim passed away in may 2008 ; Leo vanished a few days later and never came back. Did he try to find a house with another dog ? We never knew... In spite of posters all around, calls to vets in refuges, nobody took him back...