Bereft to Joyful

When Herbie got put down I was an absolute mess.  I was just devastated and cried all over my friends.  I am not a pretty crier.  I don't cry often but when I do it is loud and anything I try to say is unintelligible.  I just kept saying "I want my dog back" over and over.  I couldn't believe that my dear friend was gone and I was never going to have his company ever again.

To take up some of my crying time I started looking on Gumtree and the Trading Post for puppies.  I did it as a type of therapy so that I could imagine what having each of the dogs would be like.  I found a little dog on the Trading Post site and absolutely fell in love with her.  As I was going away to Melbourne over Christmas I thought that I would miss out on her but when I spoke to her dear Mum she told me she would keep the puppy for me.  I was elated and even though I still mourned Herbie I had something to look forward to.

As soon as I returned from Melbourne I rang Henny's Mum and made arrangements to pick her up. One of my friends gave me the Christmas present of driving me to Murray Bridge to pick up my new best friend.  It took us about one and a half hours to get there and a tense wait until we saw
the lady with the little speck in her arms.  I was worried that after coming all that way we might miss her and I would be even more devastated.  I really couldn't thank Hen's Mum enough but I am sure she could see I was almost speechless with happiness.

Now it would be remiss of me not to explain what tiny Henny is.  She is a maltese crossed with some poodle and chihuahua.  She is mainly white with one black eye and a black spot on her back.  From the back she looks like she has spotty hyena ears, in this case it is not a bad thing. She weighs 1.6kg and is gorgeous. Everyone that sees her falls immediately in love with her.  I have taken some pictures of her but the one that I would have like was one of her asleep between me and my lounge chair.  She was flat on her back with her paws in the air.  It is very hot here today and the fan was blowing on us as well as the air-conditioner.

At the moment  Henny's aspirations outweigh her abilities.  She thinks she can jump onto the top of the re-cycling bin, she thinks that she can carry some of her soft toys that are the same size that she is.  She also thinks she can drag her dog bed around the house.  She appears to be fond of pot plants, cane baskets, floor mats and fingers, definitely fingers.  She also likes my knitting box and managed to find a nice red pom pom to chew on.  She was not impressed when I took it away from her.

So while I still miss Herbie I have much to look forward to.  I have already started teaching Hen to come and sit.  It doesn't always work but it is a delight.  We have had some little toilet mistakes along the way.  A little message her and there.  However, I have been toilet training dogs for over thirty years so a mistake here and there is nothing.

Gracie, my British Blue X Catty Puss is not so enamoured of the puppy.  Little Miss wants to play but Gracie queen of the basilisk stare is not so eager.  It is an interesting stand off, one that I am enjoying.  They will get used to each other but Gracie is not one to make friends with a dog.  She tended to let Herb come up to her and then rub against him and then bite him or smack him with her paw.  She never understood that Herb was a poodle and biting his top knot did not hurt him.  Because Gracie is about three times as big as Hen I was a little worried that she might eat her but so far Hen has all her appendages intact.

Henrietta accompanied me to the vet yesterday and a lady waiting there asked me about my pup. It turned out that she had seen the advertisement on the Trading Post and that her daughter had wanted her.  She was so pleased that she got to see the little speck in real life and said that she couldn't wait to tell her daughter.  I definitely think that my pup has the potential to be a tv star.  She is cute and unusual looking and could sell ice to Inuits (eskimos).

It may appear that I bought another dog before I was over Herbie but in my heart I think I did the right thing. We both have something to offer each other and we are content.