For the Love of Dog

It was a dark and stormy night on a rain drenched highway in Spain. My niece Kiki and her boyfriend Jesus were driving to the family village for the weekend.

They slowed down to avoid something right in the middle of the highway, and that something turned out to be Alfie, who was a little dog with some Jack Russell heritage. Alfie was soaked, whimpering, scared, covered in ticks, beaten up, and malnourished.

It took an hour to coax him off the road and then into the car. Off to the village where, as fortune would have it, Jesus’s sister, a veterinarian, was also visiting. She patched up Alfie’s abuse injuries, and the story started.

It was love at first sight for Kiki and Jesus. Alfie was very cautious and skittish, definitely afraid of both people and dogs, with no socialization skills. They worked hard with him, and, in time, that little dog came to trust them. He would chase a tennis ball for hours and loved them as much as any dog could. Coming back to Canada, all of the animal importation hoops were jumped through and Alfie traveled in the cabin, because they didn’t want to put him in the cold, dark hold of the aircraft.

With the help of wonderful veterinarians in Spain and Canada, Alfie’s numerous health issues were met and conquered over the years. He had a good 10 years as a new Canadian, got to meet Kiki and Jesus’ new baby, and was a constant presence in our lives. I loved that little guy and we had a lot of fun together. I especially enjoyed our sessions when he thought he was a husky and we would howl and sing together (see video).

 

Not what I normally talk about in my blog, but, every once in a while, I have to remind myself (and we all should remind ourselves) that there’s more to life than law, real estate, and investing.

R.I.P. Alfie