For those that haven’t read my little stories about Golden Retriever Puppy Love, Shaye is my beautiful mate, a Golden Retriever male almost 18 months old. Shaye came into my life at a very sad time for me when I had just returned from a visit to my mother in Brisbane, some 1000 plus kilometres from Sydney. Mum was dying and I received a call to go to her as quickly as I could because there was no good news. I stayed 8 days but Mum decided to linger on and I had to come home.
Shaye arrived 2 days after I was back in Sydney; a gorgeous bundle of golden hair with huge feet and an even huger tongue J He was 7 weeks old and weighed 3 kilos. He now weighs some 45 kilos and his feet are still huge as is his tongueJ
My mother passed on 3 weeks after Shaye came into my life.
We have a loving bond between us and Shaye is very spoiled as I allow him to sleep on my bed with me when he chooses to. He loves to snuggle up and he is a quiet sleeper so we get on well except that he hogs the bed at times and it’s not easy to move a 45 kilo dead weight on a waterbed!
His temperament is a delight and I laugh and smile at him most of the time we are together. I hate to leave him alone while I go to work but my son arrives home from work before me and lets him inside, so Shaye is always at the front door to greet me when I arrive home. Whenever we are here, or one of us is, Shaye is inside. So I guess that compensates for the long hours 5 days a week that he has to be alone.
My other son, Aaron, used to own a stumpy blue cattle dog named Missy. She was the mother of my beautiful cattle dog Scrubber who was my darling for 11.5 years before he died suddenly with cancer, 5 months before Shaye arrived. Missy had died a few years earlier than Scrubber, and she was only 8. Aaron didn’t have another dog; we shared Scrubber until Aaron moved out. I knew that Aaron missed his girl and Scrubber, and when a friend at work told me in February this year that her Golden Labrador had just had 8 puppies, 2 girls and 6 boys, I asked if I could have one of the girls. She agreed and I set about hatching my plan to get my son together with this little darling. But like a lot of plans, things didn’t go quite the way I wanted.
I named the puppy Kyna, an Irish name meaning Wisdom. Shaye is an Irish name meaning Stately, Courteous and Hawk-like and he is all of those things. Knowing Labradors and how wise they are, I thought Kyna was a perfect name, an unusual name like Shaye; oh and the Irish bit was dear to my heart too. So Kyna was called by her name by my friend’s family in the 11 weeks she was with them. She was lucky to live in a house where she had her mum and 7 siblings, and teenage humans (2 girls and a boy) that just adored the puppies. Once they knew Kyna was sold, she was called by name and taught the refinements of human contact. So, by the time I took her home, she was a well-adjusted and happy little being.
Aaron decided he didn’t want Kyna because of various issues, money being one of them. But as I had already made the deal I decided that Kyna could be part of my family and a playmate for Shaye and that maybe one-day, mother to his pups. Silly me; I expected that once I brought her home all would be well. Shaye was delighted with his toy of course, but Kyna was terrified of this huge male thing that wanted to lick her and sniff her and bark at her to try and make her play. She cried out loud and ran to hide. I was mortified. What on earth was I going to do? I couldn’t have her upset and frightened and yet I couldn’t blame Shaye either as he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He just wanted to play.
My granddaughter had gone with me to collect Kyna, and when my daughter saw the dilemma she offered to take Kyna home for a couple of weeks. My granddaughter was on school holidays so it seemed an ideal solution until I worked out what I could do. Suddenly having two dogs around, and one a puppy that still needed some house training and was terrified of Shaye, wasn’t much of an option for a stress free existence.
My son rang me that night to see how Kyna was getting on and when I told him what had happened he changed his mind and said he would take her. The sense of relief that came over me was immense. What I hoped would happen, did happen, and Kyna was going to end up with the person I wanted her to be with J
Today was the day that Kyna went to her new home. My granddaughter will miss her immensely as she has mothered her for two weeks. But she does have her own dog at home and I’m sure things will settle back down again. Kyna has been very lucky to have so much love in her life and I know that love with continue with my son.
I went to my son’s home today after Kyna had been delivered there, and took Shaye. They are getting along better although she is still frightened. All Shaye wants to do is play with her and sniff her but as he is so big I don’t blame her for being afraid that he may hurt her. I hope that in time when she grows bigger, they will be great friends, and in the meantime I will make sure they spend time together as often as possible.
I have paid, and will continue to pay, for Kyna's veterinary costs and I made sure she had plenty of toys, a heavy water dish for outside, a harness and lead, and food to start off with.
I was quite happy with the thought that Shaye wouldn’t be alone of a day anymore when I knew Kyna was coming home here, and now I am kind of sad that it didn't happen and he is still alone. But I also believe things work out as they are meant to and my son will now have another dog to love and care for and she may well dissolve some of the issues he finds hard to come to terms with in this life.
The pic with this story is of Kyna at 11 weeks.
Until next time, farewell.
Vena
