My Sparkie

Sparkie turned four years old on 1 October, so I guess I’d better write up about that. But where do I start?

I got her in November 2008, a birthday present. But Sparkie wasn’t the perfect puppy. She had more issues than a magazine. And they weren’t the usual issues a puppy has, either. Sparkie was hopeless off the lead – the moment she was unclipped, she bolted. Our activities were limited to on lead stuff. I struggled with this, finding no traditional training methods worked. So we went to the 2009 Gympie Show with Sparkie prancing like a show horse at the end of her lead. I’ll admit, we were young and silly – she was just six months and I was twelve years old. But somehow we walked away from that show with three ribbons.

I think that marked the start of our journey together, although it was by far not the start of our dedicated friendship. It was more like a grudging respect for each other – I was bitterly disappointed with how bad her recall was, and she was frustrated with me for not giving her more off lead time. I tried, really tried, but nothing was working. By the time she reached her first birthday, she was hopeless. It didn’t take long for my motivation to reach an all-time low. Sparkie’s on lead obedience was also failing miserably and I was furious. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t obey me. Eventually we came out of the rut, and not long after that we started tricks, agility, and canine freestyle. In June, I came up with the name “The Superdogs,” and that’s where our performing started. I remember our first public performance on 4 September 2010. – it was at a birthday party for a down syndrome girl. Jessica and Tess were doing it with us. I was so nervous, I could barely eat anything. But it went fine, and it was so much fun I wanted to do it again and again.

Over the next few months, Sparkie’s recall was the best it’d ever been, we were still performing for friends and family, and I felt like I was floating. Then in March 2011, my life fell apart. I don’t need to tell the whole story again, not until March next year, because it was like something out of a nightmare, only it was real. I fell, and I fell hard. I felt like I’d been ripped apart. I was struggling with guilt and grief and nobody really understood. They were all grieving too, and nobody had time to comfort me. I started walking with Sparkie, every morning, trying to get away from the heartbreak. In May, I jumped at the chance to perform at the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival, just a week after our regular Gympie Show competition. Anything to forget what had happened. But when I came down from the show high, I crashed again. I even put Sparkie up for sale, because I couldn’t handle living anymore. I fell into depression, I think. But nobody replied to the ad, and I’m so thankful for that. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, Sparkie was my lifeline.

Over the next year, we performed at the Kenilworth Show, brought another puppy, and struggled to live again. It wasn’t until after the first anniversary that I managed to pull myself together. It was like I had to learn to live again.

 

When she got sick last month, I freaked out. I hadn’t prayed much since Serenity’s death – or cried much either – but with Sparkie so close to death, I prayed like there was no tomorrow. And I cried. Because I was afraid that for Sparkie, there might be no tomorrow. But somehow she pulled through, and three weeks later she’s acting like nothing ever happened. I won’t put the whole story up here, but if you like you can read it here (part one) and here (part two).

 

I don’t know how to really explain what Sparkie does for me. I guess I’ll just start with the basics. Every morning, the moment I say “Good morning, Sparkie,” she wakes up and crawls from the foot of my bed to lie beside me. When we drive from town to town, she curls up on the seat beside me. At night, she eats her dinner while I clean my teeth, and then we crash into bed together. If I wake in the night from bad dreams, just stretching out my toes to touch her is enough to settle me down. The most therapeutic thing for me is just a simple walk with Sparkie. There’s something about having a dog at my side and the steady beat of my feet and hers hitting the path. Last month, an auntie wrote our names in the sand on the beach. She’d drawn an angel after Jireh’s name. I knew who it was meant to be. Sparkie, standing on lead beside me, suddenly nuzzled my hand. I looked down at her and stroked her head. Another time, someone pressured me to do something I felt was wrong, and I told them no, despite the name-calling that followed. When they walked off, I sat down and Sparkie came up to me and licked my arm. Somehow she had seemed to know exactly what was happening. Yes, I know I’m attached to my dog, and you know why? Because she helps me to live. She gives me the focus, the courage, and the determination to do things I could never do on my own. Right now, at this moment, Sparkie is everything to me.

 

Some of my favourite photos of our life (hover your mouse over the picture for a description) -

The Crazies

“Getting the crazies” is a term we use to describe the out-of-control behaviour our dogs often get that usually ends when the dog finally runs out of steam. But on occasion, they break something before they run out of steam, which effectively ends the crazies. Unfortunately Tess decided to get the crazies inside the other night.

 

We’re staying with family just out of Sydney, in their massive garage. There’s a glass sliding door leading to the backyard at one end of the garage, and a solid wooden door on the other side, where the stairs leading to the main area are. One of the boys was playing with his skateboard in the garage, when we sent Tess back inside from the yard and shut the glass door. According to witnesses, Tess got excited by the skateboard and ran to the stairs, turned around, and raced full speed towards the closed glass door. Let’s just say she didn’t realize it was closed!

I wasn’t fast enough to get any photos of the door before our uncle taped it up, but you can still see the cracks. Amazingly Tess is fine, although she sulked most of the night! I imagine she had some bruises the next morning! :)

 

At night, just before lights out, when we’re all just randomly spread out around the garage, I can’t help thinking how it looks like an emergency refuge centre – you know, like where people stayed when Toowoomba and surrounding areas flooded in 2011. It’s a heap of fun! But it’s a good thing we’re used to sleeping so close together, because Chantel and Jessica decided to put their beds along the wall next to mine. Chana’s bed is at the foot of ours, and the rest of the family is across the garage by the table. The dogs sleep on their own beds, except for Lassie, because Asta’s using hers. One of my favourite things about staying here is the TV upstairs – Animal Planet, here we come!

 

We’re all enjoying the swimming pool, which is just about bigger than the only patch of grass in the backyard. It’s freezing though!

 

We’ve had a few storms in the few short days we’ve been here – one the first night that I didn’t even hear, and one yesterday afternoon that continued into the night. Loving it, and the big veranda at the front of the house is the perfect place to get some photos as the storm rolls in!

It’s gotten a bit cloudy again now, after a beautifully clear and cool morning (perfect for taking Sparkie for a walk!), so we might get another storm later.

New South Wales again

First of all, we went to Redcliffe to meet up with a family we first met in Beenleigh a few months ago after being “Facebook friends” for ages. We went to the pool and had a nice swim and had lunch. The only downside of the afternoon was that it was “no dogs” area so we couldn’t bring the team in and show off their tricks. A thunder storm came over after a few hours and the lifeguards told everyone the pool was closed until further notice “due to the approaching electrical storm.” We sat at the tables under a shelter and chatted for a bit, until the wind picked up and it started to rain. It’s amazing how fast the whole carpark emptied and even the street was quiet!

 

 

When the storm blew over and went to dump its rain in the sea somewhere, I took Sparkie out for a walk to the playground where we did our first public performance in September 2010. It hadn’t changed a bit, and I was considering doing some training there just for old times sake, but it was getting dark and we needed to get to camp.

 

 

 

While I was out walking, Gabrielle and Jireh played on the rocks by the beach, then rode their scooter and skateboard through the puddles in the deserted carpark.

 

We hit the NSW border around 1:30pm on Saturday after a crazy few days of busy roads. School holidays, I guess!

 

I did a session of trick training with Sparkie the other day and she’s so happy to be back on the job! We’re going for big on-lead walks most days as well as working on her tricks and occasionally she’ll get a game of fetch or a romp with the other dogs.

 

A quick look at what driving on the highway looks like:

Gabrielle and Suzanna crack jokes that only they get while me and Jessica get some footage of the traffic.

Chantel and Chana play on their Nintendo’s and share information with each other while Daddy concentrates on driving. Mummy is a navigator, telling Daddy what roads to take next (she also takes a lot of the photos, which is why she’s not in this section!).

The tunnel was probably the highlight of the day!

Recovery

In the craziness of the last week – has it really been a whole week ago since Sparkie got sick?! – I forgot to mention we’re out of Townsville and are heading south again.

 

Some more information on Sparkie’s sickness: the vet said it could have been something she ate or some sort of virus she picked up from somewhere or maybe some sort of infection. We went to the beach in Pallarenda on Monday afternoon, and that night she got sick, so who knows? I didn’t see her eat anything, but we did walk quite a distance up the beach, without the other dogs, which could explain why she got sick and the others didn’t. Anyway, she’s recovering nicely, finished her course of antibiotics last night, and is constantly hungry! She was on small meals of chicken and rice for a few days, and now is getting bigger meals of regular dog food, and tonight I’m planning on giving her the usual amount because she’s just so hungry! The fur on her neck and leg is growing back pretty fast, so she won’t be needing her fluffy collar for much longer.

^^ Sparkie’s shaved patches on Thursday morning ^^

^^ Sparkie’s shaved patches today ^^

The collar could have been better if I did it properly, but I made it on Wednesday evening in a rush and my brain wasn’t working too good! LOL! But it does its job and Sparkie likes it, so it’s not too bad.

Sparkie turns four years old on the 1st of October, and I already have a present organized for her – a custom-made collar from a friend in New Zealand. It’s still in the process of being made, though. And I reckon it needs to be a fairly big celebration, because she nearly wasn’t around for it. Her first birthday was probably the worst, though – we were in Redcliffe and Mummy was pregnant with Jireh. She went for her appointment that morning and came home in tears after the doctor told her the baby would be born very sick. Of course it put a shadow on the whole day when she was rushed to Brisbane without us. We’d been planning on a decent party for Sparkie, with pies and sausages and presents, but it didn’t work out so well. Turns out the doctor was wrong, she’d read something wrong on the blood test or something like that, and Mummy came home at 5pm while we were running the dogs in the field. Jireh was born healthy nine days later. Sparkie’s second birthday was on the farm in Gympie, when I brought her a $30 bed and she chose to sleep on the concrete floor instead. Crazy dog! Her third birthday was in Goomeri and I had no money to buy her anything nice, so I tied a knot in the end of an old tea towel and that was her present. I’ve been wanting a nice collar for Sparkie for a few months now – the last collar she got was a cheap one from Crazy Clark’s last Christmas. So things are so far looking good!