Taffy with me in Belgium. He had just " stolen" an empty water bottle which he adored to gain a reaction from me . I used to laughingly pretend it was "naughty". Fun games turned into training sessions leading to all manner of interaction between myself and my comedian of a pet. Just before this shot was taken I had been sat painting and Taffy had decided enough was enough urgently wanting my attention for a play break. He often used to try to get my hat from my head too. I made this myself and Taffy constantly tried to knock it from my head when I was sat quietly working.
Fighting Spirit.
Finally discovering what is wrong with Taffy in many ways is a huge relief. Babeseosis may sound frightening and Taffy is still a very sick dog who needs time to recover. But I know from the specialists advise that Taffy has a good chance of recovery and I know what I am dealing with. I have been here before in much worse circumstances.
We rescued a beautiful puppy in China who we called Buddy. In fact we rescued his sister too and my sons called the cute pups Buddy and Holly which raised many a giggle when I used to call them on their daily walks. I had put my foot down at calling them Homer and Marge!
Buddy who looked like a black bear cub had severe hip displacea at birth but you would hardly know it. I was told he would never see four years old. I took him swimming regularly to exercise his hind leg muscles minus putting weight on them, I kept his weight to a healthy level and simply loved him. He had tick fever at the age of five and we were told he wouldn't make it through to the weekend. It took six months of very careful nursing but Buddy pulled through and saved my own life when I was attacked a few months later. He was a gorgeous dog who eventually died in my arms at the age of thirteen. Until the very end he was a happy character with a great quality of life and no suffering. In fact I look back at the day Buddy passed away and feel the moment was beautiful because it was right. He was tired and needed to go.
Taffy does not. His eyes are shining and he is deteremined to be here. Because of his fighting spirit I feel strong about aiming to aid him to survive.
You have to know Taffy to understand my way of dealing with him.He is in fact a very stubborn animal. He has been called a donkey sized dog on many occasions and when he sets his mind to something there is no arguing. If he doesn't want to walk in a certain direction there is no changing his mind. There was an old house near where we lived before and Taffy used to in his tracks whenever we approached it. All the coaxing and treats in the world would not make him go anywhere near the old building.We joked it was a haunted house and he knew a ghost was living in it at the time!
He is a lovable character and has the determination to see this through.
I have enormous amounts of patience and I am determined to pull him through it.
To go through such major surgery recently and recover so amazngly really doesnt leave me wishing him to fall at this hurdle.
So with hope, help from the very best medical team and love Taffy this morning looks as though he has a far better chance than two days ago when the outlook was very emotionally upsetting.
Wish us luck.
We learn from these painful experiences just how much love our hearts can hold.
And agonising as it may be that is no bad thing.
To know you are so capable of loving and being loved in return.
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