Still in our hearts
Dogs are family, and should be remembered so. This is a space to share memories
and stories of dogs no longer with us, but still very much in our hearts.
​To share your stories, please email us at talesofmydog@gmail.com
attaching a photo and writing up to 500 words, and we will share it to this page.
BEAU
Beau was my husband's red cattle dog who had cemented his place as second in charge before I came onto the scene. However, over time he grew to accept this additional person in his life.
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When Josh proposed, we moved in together, renting a house on a farm and Josh started driving trucks. It didn't take Beau long to work out that his master's departure usually lasted more than a night and so with time he gave up protesting and gave into the hunger and accepted dinner from me.
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Soon he followed me about the yard and challenged my dog for equal attention. Within a month he decided if the boss was away, he was obliged to step up to protect me. If Josh was home, he retired to his bed out the back, but like clockwork as the big yellow truck left with a plume of dust, he would sit on the front doorstep when I was inside and followed me everywhere when I wasn't. If I left in the car, he would wait at the front grid.
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Beau never gave the "real owners" any grief for "trespassing" during their weekly crop inspections... until one day. Beau chased him down the 1km driveway, biting at the side mirror until he passed the front grid. Thinking this was very out of character, I took him to see David Hunter who checked him out, gave him a clean bill of health, but suggest I do a pregnancy test. Sure enough Gus came along 8.5 months later!
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Smart, intuitive, and ever protective Beau!
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Written by Brooke
Toby (pictured above & below)
TOBY
There was a 6-foot chain wire fence around the house. Toby was a small dog, with fierce determination. Not even the Kelpies attempted to jump that fence, but that didn’t stop Toby. He would run up and jump, landing in the middle and stuck to the fence like a frog on a wall. He then proceeded to climb all the way to the top. He looked like a tight rope walker, perched on the upper-most single wire. I think that’s when he said a little prayer to the God of dogs, before leaping outwards, dropping down and face-planting in the dirt on the other side. He then stood up, shook himself and took off - and he did that not just once, but many times in his long life.
I was 6 years old, both my brothers were away at boarding school, and it was years before it would be my turn to leave the property to be educated in a populous area.
Mum and Dad arranged with the McLeans, who lived at the next property, to allow me to pick a pup from Hattie their Australian Terrier's next litter. I picked Toby.
Toby was unstoppable. He would jump on anything moving: motor bike, 4-wheeler (quad-bike), truck, car, tractor, tinnie (boat), & mower. He came fishing, mustering, hooning - pretty much wherever I was, he was.
One of our favourite activities was chasing rabbits, on the 4-wheeler at night. I would have Toby (and Socks the Kelpie) on the back. We would ride around the saltbush in the back paddock until a rabbit shot out. Then Toby and Socks would launch themselves off the quad. Socks landed gracefully mid-stride and took chase. Toby would tuck in his legs, then roll with the momentum, before his little legs sprung out like springs, and then away he sprinted. We never caught a rabbit, but it was exciting!
Toby was the greatest playmate. He danced, chased, played, comforted, entertained and talked his special talk. Life would have been empty without him in it.
He lived 18 glorious years. Sadly, when he was 5 years old I had to go away to boarding school, but the reunions when I came home were joyous and we just picked off where we left off. It’s been years since we lost him, but that cheeky pup is never far from my thoughts.
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'Round and Round' was a song I wrote about growing up at Weilmoringle and the film clip features footage taken at that time - including footage of Toby. Click this text or the button below to watch on YouTube.
Written by Merri-May
TEDDY
Teddy was unlike any other dog I have met. The dog encyclopedia, that helped us choose him, was absolutely correct when they described English Setters as ‘very emotionally sensitive, independent and a one-person dog’. What they neglected to add was that he would carry himself with the most noble, elegant posture 24/7 – as though permanently raising a book on top of his head, as high into the sky as it could go - to always look his best, just in case royalty should happen to drop by at any given minute.
Teddy also had a very quirky habit of talking with his feet – you could measure how intensely he wanted something by how quickly and how high his front feet would march on the spot – whether he was sitting or standing – as if compelled by an obsessive inner drill sargeant. That said, Teddy also talked with his voice if feet failed to achieve the desired effect – starting with a quiet, high opera-diva-style note that would descend smoothly all the way down the vocal scale to his deep lower register, followed by a set of harumphs, then finally a single, almost shrieking, exasperated high bark, if the previous series of sounds brought no satisfaction – whether he wanted to be let out into the garden, or into the house, or given a sample of something we were eating which just smelled overwhelmingly good.
Teddy also reserved a majestic, deep bark for anyone who he thought didn’t belong in our street, or a cat – because, according to Teddy, cats didn’t belong anywhere – ever - and barking at them became a fierce passion (unlike walking). His negative attitude towards walking was possibly the way Teddy differed most from other dogs.
Any time we said the word ‘walk’ or lifted a lead, Teddy would spin around a few times then lie down with his head on the floor, looking the other way, as if to say – “you must have meant that word ‘walk’ for someone else”!
Admittedly, Teddy did have an autoimmune condition (for which he was on medication), which might have lessened his enthusiasm for stepping out, but once we were out of the house, he would suddenly pull hard on the lead every which way – front, one side, other side, back, front… in an unending series of jerks that was nasty enough for the lead-holder’s upper back that I ended up needing physiotherapy, and to buy a bicycle – with which Teddy trotted very happily in a straight line like a horse. That was a good solution for exercising Teddy, but our very flat flood-plain town meant I wasn’t getting enough exercise via the bike, so I had to buy a treadmill - so Teddy was a very expensive dog!
But he was also a lot of other things – like loyal, gentle (a few times our Cavalier puppy Denver made Teddy’s legs pink with puppy teeth bites but Teddy never bit back), sunshiny (his big smile was the first thing that drew me to him, as a 1-year-old rescue dog), quirky and extremely handsome. Love you Ted!
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Written by Fi
Teddy (pictured above, & below with Denver)
