Author Koh Lin ◦
Many of us can relate to the phrase “a man’s best friend“, especially those who love dogs. Originally attributed from a quote by Frederick the Great of Prussia in the 18th century, the saying was popularized by George Graham Vestey, an attorney who in an 1870 Supreme Court case declared,
“The one absolute, unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world — the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous — is his dog“.
My earliest memory of the first dog that we had as a pet was in Germany (back in the early 70’s). She was a hairy small size dog named Mitzy, that someone my dad knew, passed onto him, as they could not take her with them. Sadly I have no photos, just memories… then there was my parent’s dogs, Bonnie and Clyde (here in Australia).
When my partner and I moved into our very own home, our first dog and dare I say favourite (instantly became part of our family). She had wandered into the depot where my partner worked, with a broken leg and a scar around her nose and jaw (where it appeared that she had been muzzled with wire). It was terrible to see, as we were told that some people did that to dogs, we could not believe it. Despite this cruelty, she was a gentle dog. We named her “Pupalicious”, which we shortened to “Pup”.
As we both worked during the day, we then decided Pup need company, so we took Pup out to our local animal shelter to adopt a friend… it felt like that Pup adopted our new puppy… who we named “Robustus”, shortened to “Ro”.
Our new puppy got her name Robustus, as she would run around our house really fast, when one day, she slid on the concrete and crashed into the wall, cracking the gyprock. “Robustus” is a Latin term for strong or sturdy.
We would take our dogs on trips, to the claypans, the bush and interstate visiting family and friends…
Sometimes it seems like only yesterday thinking about Pup and Ro… but the girls live on in our memories and stories we tell…
“Man’s best friend” for us was more than just friends, they were family.
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