The Story of a Special Dog and a Special Child…..
by Jane Kirk
We live in southern Spain and work with the Costa Animal Society (CAS). It’s aim is to help abused and abandoned animals.
Brian and I have two dogs that we had rescued well over a year ago and this was enough!
Then, during one of our lovely, long, endless summer days….. we heard the whimpers of a puppy by the side of our road. Climbing down the steep, steep slope, Brian found this injured puppy amongst a pile of rubbish – to some people, a dog is just as much rubbish as an empty drinks can or a piece of rotten fruit.
It took us some time to haul back up the Man-Clutching-Puppy.
Home she came – whining a lot because of a couple of damaged legs, so we named her Winnie!
Winnie was strangely, physically similar to one of our other dogs– Peppa. They must have recognized some joint ancestry, because Peppa immediately took Winnie “under her paw”
The three dogs took Brian for long, long walks in the campo every day – rain or shine.
These were the Walks on the Wild Side! They loved every minute of it, becoming completely familiar with their environment. So much so, that we had to fence the whole property to prevent them going off on jaunts of their own…..It became a Dog Colditz!
Life went along its usual path for us. Lots to do, lots of friends, family and interests.
It also went along with Brian regularly declaiming his Mantra :-
by Jane Kirk
We live in southern Spain and work with the Costa Animal Society (CAS). It’s aim is to help abused and abandoned animals.
Brian and I have two dogs that we had rescued well over a year ago and this was enough!
Then, during one of our lovely, long, endless summer days….. we heard the whimpers of a puppy by the side of our road. Climbing down the steep, steep slope, Brian found this injured puppy amongst a pile of rubbish – to some people, a dog is just as much rubbish as an empty drinks can or a piece of rotten fruit.
It took us some time to haul back up the Man-Clutching-Puppy.
Home she came – whining a lot because of a couple of damaged legs, so we named her Winnie!
Winnie was strangely, physically similar to one of our other dogs– Peppa. They must have recognized some joint ancestry, because Peppa immediately took Winnie “under her paw”
The three dogs took Brian for long, long walks in the campo every day – rain or shine.
These were the Walks on the Wild Side! They loved every minute of it, becoming completely familiar with their environment. So much so, that we had to fence the whole property to prevent them going off on jaunts of their own…..It became a Dog Colditz!
Life went along its usual path for us. Lots to do, lots of friends, family and interests.
It also went along with Brian regularly declaiming his Mantra :-
“Three Dogs is One Dog Too Many!” “Three Dogs is One Dog Too Many! ….Om! Om!”
The whole family deliberately ignored him….as usual.☺
As the months went on everyone became impressed by just how intelligent and trainable Winnie was. Tell her something once, offer a biscuit (or – Joy of Joys, a pork scratching!)
and she would have the new skill for life.
The warmth between the two dogs also increased daily. Both dogs had squeaky clean ears thanks to the attentions of the other. Toys were shared and destroyed together. A racing track was created through the flower beds, facilitating daily chases, complete with high-pitched yelps – audible across the valley! Beds were shared. Car journeys endured.
Then I made the first mistake.
As a sop to Brian’s Mantra, we allowed a photograph of Winnie to go on the CAS website.
The whole family deliberately ignored him….as usual.☺
As the months went on everyone became impressed by just how intelligent and trainable Winnie was. Tell her something once, offer a biscuit (or – Joy of Joys, a pork scratching!)
and she would have the new skill for life.
The warmth between the two dogs also increased daily. Both dogs had squeaky clean ears thanks to the attentions of the other. Toys were shared and destroyed together. A racing track was created through the flower beds, facilitating daily chases, complete with high-pitched yelps – audible across the valley! Beds were shared. Car journeys endured.
Then I made the first mistake.
As a sop to Brian’s Mantra, we allowed a photograph of Winnie to go on the CAS website.
But I’m nobody’s fool! She who controls the Email and the Mobile Phone rules the earth!.....
All expressions of interest were rebutted without me seeing any necessity for telling Brian…. What you don’t know…..
What we didn’t know at this time, was that a child had been born, thousands of kilometers away in The Netherlands, June 2004.
How could we know? We also didn’t know that she was so very beautiful, dark hair; lovely, dark eyes. This was Jarientje.
The joy of the family turned to despair when Jarientje was only 7 months old. There was obviously a problem with those lovely eyes. Doctors were so concerned that they ordered an MRI Scan and this revealed the horrific truth.
She had an enormous brain tumour! (pilocytic astrocytoma)
It was then that Fear entered their lives, never really to leave again.
Even worse was the news that it was in the most dangerous place it could be – pushing on the hypothalamus – a part of the brain that controls the motor skills and the hormones that make the body work. It works on the senses of hunger, thirst and other neural processes.
The only thing the doctors knew to try was chemo therapy, which made the little one so ill and reduced her to a skeleton of only 6.9 kilos by the age of two.
Then, the tumour grew again!
Medical advice was that her parents should ready themselves for the death of their beloved child.
They, however, found Special Strength and refused to accept the doctors’ surrender.
They sent off the scans around the world – with no hope, until doctors in Italy recommended that they all go to Leuven in Belgium. Here, doctors carried out a tremendously difficult and risky operation to remove a large amount of the tumour.
Part of that risk was to Jarientje’s sight. The parents had not noticed that she was already almost blind because she had used her other senses to compensate. The operation spelled the end of any sight and Jarientje is now totally blind.
The tumour is still there – an ever-present threat. Fear still shares their home but has met its match in this family.
The one thing the beautiful child wanted…..was a dog.
Enter Hond Zoekt Huis (HzH), a Dutch charity which aims to find the appropriate CAS dog for families in The Netherlands. Our co-operation began last January and the first consignment of three dogs traveled with Jan to the Netherlands on 11th February.
It was during his trip to Spain, that Jan stayed with us. I had made up my mind to ask him to remove Winnie from the HzH Website as there was No Way I could allow her to leave us now!
I noticed that he spent a lot of time with Winnie, but passed this off as normal – how could anyone not want to stroke her, play with her and love her!
Beware a clever Dutchman!
Eventually he dropped his bombshell! There was this little, blind, Dutch girl…………
Twenty minutes, locked in the bathroom, crying and I was able to give permission for Jan to do a Home Visit to the family when he got got back to The Netherlands.
Then I settled down to worry and worry about her flight over there, locked in a cage for 4 hours without the only family she had ever known. I imagined her fear of a new home, land and language. I examined my own sense of loss and despair.
What is it about dogs!! Humans’ ancient, ancient affinity with the first ever domesticated animal goes on and on…
Then Brian’s Mantra changed as did his Mind. He decided that sending Winnie to The Netherlands was not appropriate! “Too Late!” I cried.
It was an emotional roller-coaster. Should she go or stay? Is she the right dog for such a family? How could we ever cope without her? And so on and so forth.
It’s true that Indecision is the cruelest of emotions. It took a good email “talking to” from Jan and we made the Final Decision.
“A coward dies many times before his death…” and I resumed worrying about having to put my beloved dog in a cage and send her off into The Unknown.
It was then that the prospective family contacted us…….
We exchanged photographs every day. I wrote The Story of Winnie to be read to Jarientja at bedtime and to familiarize the parents with Winnie’s life and behaviour. If truth be told, it was also for my benefit too!
We have become email friends and Spanish grandparents to Jarientje. We were thrilled and honoured to be part of something so important. Reconciled and happy….until The Day dawned …..
We had let her sleep in the carrier cage for a week so that she would be happy with it. Then spent ages shredding paper to put on the bottom in case of accidents..(paper liberally “laced” with little dog biscuits too…)
I even began calling her “Winnie! Winnie! Sjaark!” Sjaark being the name that the child chose for her.
And, to compound my over-indulgence, I made up The Travel Pack. Plastic bag with containing her usual treats. Question to self “Do they sell pork scratchings in The Netherlands?” They’ve got a lot of pigs there……
When the time came, off we went, having consulted the Guidelines for Dog Escorts – a snappy little number to tell potential escorts everything to do and when to do it.
We met Pieter at Málaga airport. Booked in Winnie, walked her through to the conveyor belt and put her in the cage…..
And there we were….
Two Wrinklies walking out of Málaga airport, both crying and crying. No amount of nose blowing helped. We each had a massive rock in our chest. I guess it was Grief, Mourning, Desolation - maybe, even Guilt that we had put her in this situation.
Driving home was bad. Actually going in the house was awful. Even though the other two dogs were there – it was still a very empty home.
Then the Support started. Lovely emails and phone calls from our HzH friends in The Netherlands – Jan & Ezra. They showed such concern and understanding. We felt comforted by them and honoured to know them.
The following morning we got a phone call from Winnie-Sjaak’s new Mum and the joy in her voice made us both smile.
The days went on and the photos kept arriving from. We even received a YouTube video film of her! Amazing! All this new technology can be such a comfort. Invaluable.
Our dog has stopped searching for her. We still miss her dreadfully, but it hardly hurts at all now and we are joyous to share in her new life and the happiness of the Family.
We shall always stay in touch with them and, if Caring can stop a tumour, Jarientje’s will simply disappear.
We have no doubt that, in a few more weeks, Life will send us the next dog – more work, more laughter and - more happiness just waiting for someone else to find by taking her into their lives…..
All expressions of interest were rebutted without me seeing any necessity for telling Brian…. What you don’t know…..
What we didn’t know at this time, was that a child had been born, thousands of kilometers away in The Netherlands, June 2004.
How could we know? We also didn’t know that she was so very beautiful, dark hair; lovely, dark eyes. This was Jarientje.
The joy of the family turned to despair when Jarientje was only 7 months old. There was obviously a problem with those lovely eyes. Doctors were so concerned that they ordered an MRI Scan and this revealed the horrific truth.
She had an enormous brain tumour! (pilocytic astrocytoma)
It was then that Fear entered their lives, never really to leave again.
Even worse was the news that it was in the most dangerous place it could be – pushing on the hypothalamus – a part of the brain that controls the motor skills and the hormones that make the body work. It works on the senses of hunger, thirst and other neural processes.
The only thing the doctors knew to try was chemo therapy, which made the little one so ill and reduced her to a skeleton of only 6.9 kilos by the age of two.
Then, the tumour grew again!
Medical advice was that her parents should ready themselves for the death of their beloved child.
They, however, found Special Strength and refused to accept the doctors’ surrender.
They sent off the scans around the world – with no hope, until doctors in Italy recommended that they all go to Leuven in Belgium. Here, doctors carried out a tremendously difficult and risky operation to remove a large amount of the tumour.
Part of that risk was to Jarientje’s sight. The parents had not noticed that she was already almost blind because she had used her other senses to compensate. The operation spelled the end of any sight and Jarientje is now totally blind.
The tumour is still there – an ever-present threat. Fear still shares their home but has met its match in this family.
The one thing the beautiful child wanted…..was a dog.
Enter Hond Zoekt Huis (HzH), a Dutch charity which aims to find the appropriate CAS dog for families in The Netherlands. Our co-operation began last January and the first consignment of three dogs traveled with Jan to the Netherlands on 11th February.
It was during his trip to Spain, that Jan stayed with us. I had made up my mind to ask him to remove Winnie from the HzH Website as there was No Way I could allow her to leave us now!
I noticed that he spent a lot of time with Winnie, but passed this off as normal – how could anyone not want to stroke her, play with her and love her!
Beware a clever Dutchman!
Eventually he dropped his bombshell! There was this little, blind, Dutch girl…………
Twenty minutes, locked in the bathroom, crying and I was able to give permission for Jan to do a Home Visit to the family when he got got back to The Netherlands.
Then I settled down to worry and worry about her flight over there, locked in a cage for 4 hours without the only family she had ever known. I imagined her fear of a new home, land and language. I examined my own sense of loss and despair.
What is it about dogs!! Humans’ ancient, ancient affinity with the first ever domesticated animal goes on and on…
Then Brian’s Mantra changed as did his Mind. He decided that sending Winnie to The Netherlands was not appropriate! “Too Late!” I cried.
It was an emotional roller-coaster. Should she go or stay? Is she the right dog for such a family? How could we ever cope without her? And so on and so forth.
It’s true that Indecision is the cruelest of emotions. It took a good email “talking to” from Jan and we made the Final Decision.
“A coward dies many times before his death…” and I resumed worrying about having to put my beloved dog in a cage and send her off into The Unknown.
It was then that the prospective family contacted us…….
We exchanged photographs every day. I wrote The Story of Winnie to be read to Jarientja at bedtime and to familiarize the parents with Winnie’s life and behaviour. If truth be told, it was also for my benefit too!
We have become email friends and Spanish grandparents to Jarientje. We were thrilled and honoured to be part of something so important. Reconciled and happy….until The Day dawned …..
We had let her sleep in the carrier cage for a week so that she would be happy with it. Then spent ages shredding paper to put on the bottom in case of accidents..(paper liberally “laced” with little dog biscuits too…)
I even began calling her “Winnie! Winnie! Sjaark!” Sjaark being the name that the child chose for her.
And, to compound my over-indulgence, I made up The Travel Pack. Plastic bag with containing her usual treats. Question to self “Do they sell pork scratchings in The Netherlands?” They’ve got a lot of pigs there……
When the time came, off we went, having consulted the Guidelines for Dog Escorts – a snappy little number to tell potential escorts everything to do and when to do it.
We met Pieter at Málaga airport. Booked in Winnie, walked her through to the conveyor belt and put her in the cage…..
And there we were….
Two Wrinklies walking out of Málaga airport, both crying and crying. No amount of nose blowing helped. We each had a massive rock in our chest. I guess it was Grief, Mourning, Desolation - maybe, even Guilt that we had put her in this situation.
Driving home was bad. Actually going in the house was awful. Even though the other two dogs were there – it was still a very empty home.
Then the Support started. Lovely emails and phone calls from our HzH friends in The Netherlands – Jan & Ezra. They showed such concern and understanding. We felt comforted by them and honoured to know them.
The following morning we got a phone call from Winnie-Sjaak’s new Mum and the joy in her voice made us both smile.
The days went on and the photos kept arriving from. We even received a YouTube video film of her! Amazing! All this new technology can be such a comfort. Invaluable.
Our dog has stopped searching for her. We still miss her dreadfully, but it hardly hurts at all now and we are joyous to share in her new life and the happiness of the Family.
We shall always stay in touch with them and, if Caring can stop a tumour, Jarientje’s will simply disappear.
We have no doubt that, in a few more weeks, Life will send us the next dog – more work, more laughter and - more happiness just waiting for someone else to find by taking her into their lives…..
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