Sasha

On 14th May 2021, Sasha and I found each other:) I was working on the roof of my house as I had been for some months, when I noticed her unexpected arrival, at the guest house opposite. A small Africanis, an extremely cute looking dog. http://www.africanis.co.za/

I have often over the last 20 years, considered another dog in my life, but, for several reasons, always backed out at the last moment. At lunchtime, the dog was still with the guest house manager …so I went over to inquire. She was a stray who had followed the ladies who worked at the Guesthouse. In those previous hours everything had been done to try and find the owners but, with no responses. The dog was extremely sweet and friendly, if not a little thin with rough coat and many many ticks!! Nevertheless, she was just the kind of dog I would have chosen….at 3pm I asked again and still no one had claimed her.

At that moment and without any hesitation I “volunteered” to take her, rushed to the supermarket to buy food some bowls and a lead and collar, by 3.30pm she was mine! (There was a bit more about her ownership that evolved over the first month, but it was resolved, and she is officially mine)
I really noticed the ticks when I created a place for her to lie down after feeding her a meal that she wolfed down…they were walking off her body and into my house!

Next day I took her for dipping and many more escaped her. While she slept and I comforted her, I removed at least one hundred ticks from her body and especially her ears… She knew I was helping her, and she lay still while I reached in with long nose tweezers and removed them from inside her ears, which I then treated with betadine solution. I sanitized the floor and destroyed as many ticks as I could……after a couple of days she was free of ticks, eating well, sleeping well and her digestive system had improved 100-fold!

She had an appointment with the vet in a neighbouring town and a few weeks later she was fully vaccinated, spayed, de wormed and on medication for ticks. Interestingly, there are no fleas in the Karoo!

I had forgotten how much time a “puppy” takes. (Vet says she was about 6months old at the time I adopted her) She had bad manners did not comprehend a collar or walking on a lead. She did not seem to like the veld, which is where I spend much of my time, but now, about 8 months later, I am pleased to say that her middle name is Jock, as in Jock of the Bushveld, she owns the veld! She who had never experienced water and was very timid of it, is now a swimmer of note, knows how to sit, lie down, stay, and obeys many other commands, can fetch a stick, ball, and anything else I throw for her, is brave and energetic. She is everything that was missing in my new life:) I do not know how I could have come this far without her. We are made for each other and will never alone.