When Kirk and I bought our first home oh so many moons ago we decided that the first big step was over. The second step was dogs!
It didn’t take long for Kirk to find his little sweetie Georgie, a whippet cross kelpie with too much energy!!! She would zip across here and then turn on a 10 cent piece and be darting off in the next direction. He loved her from the moment their eyes met. She was abandoned by her previous owners, tied up with rope to a tree and left, most likely to die. But she chewed through the rope and landed with the local animal rescue shelter which is where we met her. She was the first dog to join our family.
A few weeks later the shelter was holding an open day and my mother offered to look for a dog for me. She only asked me one important question “What do you want?” I didn’t know if I should get male or female, long haired or short haired, big or small…there were just too many options. So I decided “find me the ugliest dog they have. The one that no one wants”.
That afternoon mum was back with dog to boot. As he popped out of the car I had to laugh. He was a scrawny little thing with an over sized head and had obviously been in a fight due to a large scab on his jaw. He was ugly, scared and in need of some serious cuddles. They had named him Tarzan but he didn’t look like he was any jungle warrior to me, so I called him Alex.
If Alex was a man he would be an old gentlemen, kind, warm and giving. Alex and I have an unbreakable bond, an unspoken understanding. He is my mate, and I am his.
He treats my children as his own little pups, giving them cuddles and sweet licks and letting them do more to him then any other dog would put up with. My youngest Toby who will be turning two in March has found his own little spot in Alex’s heart. The two are virtually inseparable, and I spend many a moment watching the two laying together wrapped in happiness and friendship.
Alex is showing signs of age of late, waking stiff and sore in the morning and not keeping up with the hustle and bustle of Georgie and the kids. I can only hope that time is on his side and I get to share a few more precious years yet.
My mate Alex…there will never be another dog like him x.
