A Tribute To A Dog Named Kel

I first met Kel when Seth and I started dating in 2003.  He was only 6 months old and as boisterous as any puppy would be, although you could tell that there was a screw loose somewhere in his gorgeous white head.  At that stage of his life he was a happy, healthy dog who loved jumping up on people and knocking them over.  I didn’t really like him then as he kept jumping on me and I never felt completely comfortable with him.

Kel was one of those dogs…  The runt of the litter ones…  The ones that you feel sorry for.  Mia and Ben got him for Seth’s parents.  He was apparently such a shy puppy, running and hiding for any noise etc.  As he got older he got more aggressive to those he didn’t  know and didn’t want in his bubble.  He would growl pretty menacingly if you dared to go near him when he was eating but other than that he never ever growled at me.

Over the 3 and a half years that Seth and I dated before we got married I grew ridiculously fond of this dog.  One day he was quite sick, not moving much at all or eating or anything and I just remember feeling a lump in my throat every time I looked at him, then I cried at home cos I thought he was going to die.  He also picked up a skin condition that required daily meds (which made him a fatty boom batty), so he wasn’t the healthiest of dogs.

He was the most spoilt though!!  He was fed rice and a whole chicken breast every day for supper and like 5 dog biscuits and viennas in the morning. Or a sandwich along with a lovely bowl of tea to top it off.

He was also thrown into the pool once and he couldn’t get out, so he became totes afraid of the pool – wouldn’t go anywhere near it and would bark like crazy when people swam. What happened here was: We just put in a pool and I was swimming joyfully and thought it would be just dandy if Kel joined me. My Dad thought it was a great idea too, so he picked up all 30kg of Kel and gently dropped him from about a metre above the water. Kel went straight down. “Mmmm shouldn’t have done that.” I thought. Poor Kel didn’t know what the heck was going on and didn’t know how to swim back up from the bottom of the pool. I pulled him up. Struggling to cough out all the water he had swallowed he didn’t know how to swim. So I swam him to the steps where he jumped out. Needless to say we felt really super bad. Our suspicion that all dogs could swim instinctively was proven wrong, especially when they are thrown in. Yes, I’m an idiot I know.

I loved that dog so much, even with all his personality flaws.  He got all my attention, more than my own dogs at home and even more than our puppies now.  Then came the day that I found out I was pregnant – my whole mind shift changed.  Now I was worried about what he would do if he got hold of my baby (he was very jealous).  During the Christmas season of 2008, Aunty Caron and Hannah-Jane were down (or across) from New Zealand.  Aunty had taken him for walks and he seemed to be getting used to her.  Then she bent down to hug him, he snapped and his tooth caught the top of her eye.  Not a fun experience for anyone, especially for Kel as it sealed his fate. Aunty ended up in the emergency ward getting stitches. Kel’s skin disease was also getting really bad. He would spend most of the day just lying on his bed.

Shortly after Kyla was born (before GrandMaMa had to look after her every day)  we had Kel put down.  Even though it was almost a year and a half ago, I still often think about him.

Anyway, here are some pics to remember this gorgeous dog…

(Having him on the bed is totally not allowed – so this is actually a figment of your imagination)