I had this lovely little pumpkin picked fresh from the garden, I took all the insides out and cooked them for my two potbellie pigs, then I religiously placed the pumpkin in a nice spot in the garden on a wall so that it could dry out.

Well yesterday was no difference I put the little pumpkin onto the wall in the sun, and went to town to do my shopping, on returning home, my pumpkin was gone, all I could find were a few little uneaten pieces.

It must have fallen off the wall and the pigs ate it, I reprimanded  them but they just grunted at me and asked for more.

I really thought that this year I would have a halloween pumpkin but it was  not to be, it had been eaten.

Now I will have to just be satisfied with cookie and sweets. and a candle in a candle stick holder.

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USHKA


Ushka was the first blue bitch I owned, I bought her from a breeder in Krugersdorp, she was not the perfect chow by any-means, but I wanted her, for all her faults, she had a bad over-bite, and was small for her size, but what a loving nature.
I heard about her through the Chow Club and phoned her breeder who told me that I would never be able to show her, and that breeding with her might be a problem because of her over-bite but I was prepared to take that chance, and I am so glad I did, She grew into a very beautiful chow and was the mother to the most beautiful bitch I have ever breed, My Meltari Miss Sharin Gold. I mated her with my Dr Halley and she produced two outstanding puppies exactly two months after I lost my lovely Halley to bloat, Little Sharin and Little Halley weighed in at 500grams each, Sharin was Black and Halley the splitting image of his father a lovely gold.
When the puppies were three months old we were evicted from our flat we had moved into, it was a large 4 bed roomed apartment with a large roof top balcony, and we decided to move back to Durban, It was quite some move but with the help of my brother in law we got all the chows safety to Durban without any mishaps. We moved into a small cottage behind Ralun Kennels and set up out kennels where we stayed for the next 10years. Ushka had an adventurous spirit and loved to roam around the large property, One evening when I got home from work I noticed that she was vomiting up blood, I phoned my sister in a panic, as she Ushka was 9 weeks pregnant and due to give birth to her litter of puppies from Rick’s chow Champ, We rushed her to the vet who suspected a snake bite, a lot of injections and told that we still might loose her we took her home, she settled down during the night but by morning the vomiting started again and the blood she brought up was very bright red, I carried her back to the vet and again a course of injections to try and fight the now definitely snake bite, but what kind of snake could make my girl so sick I asked the vet, possibly a boom slang or a black mamba he said, I went home knowing that things were not going well and in tears phoned the snake park and asked for help, there was very little they could do but they sent a snake serum to the vet to try and save her life. That evening when I went to the hospital to see her she was on a drip and hardly breathing. Carol said the vet I don’t think she is going to make the night out, You must try and save the puppies I cried, do a Caesar now and lets get them out, We did a Caesar but only after my lovely Ushka had passed on to the next world, All he gave her to put her to sleep was a dose of ether, The puppies were delivered but none of the little ones were alive, she would have had 4 little bitches, 2 blue and 2 red, all lovely puppies, Ushka tried so hard to save the lives of her puppies, but just could not make it, she was a very brave little chow and I will never forget her, I just don’t wish a snake bite like this on not even my worse enemy.

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DEBBIE


One Sunday morning I received an urgent telephone call, Carol I need your help, my chow is having puppies and two of them are already dead, I agreed to go and see what I could do and they came to fetch me.

On arrival at there home, there was their Tammy in a hole she had dug in the garden, giving birth to puppy no 4, Yes 2 of them were dead and I carefully took three away from her, and then helped her give birth to the forth puppy the third was o.k. And she had cleaned him up and had pushed him to one side while she delivered the next, I helped Tammy deliver 8 puppies, 3 of which were dead, they were all lovely healthy little chow puppies, and of the five alive there were 3 males and 2 females.

I kept in touch and went up to their home every day for the first week to see how the puppies were doing, They were fine and Tammy had settled down well and was having no problems feeding them, When they were into their 2nd week of life I only went up on a Sunday, and was examining the puppies when I noticed that one of the little bitches did not have a foot, I could not believe my eyes, that foot was there when she was born so what could have happened, Tammy had her bed in a small underground cellar, which had a very heavy door to it, all I could think was that the door had slammed shut on the puppies foot and had amputated it. I questioned the owners and they had not noticed anything, only going in to feed Tammy and see that the puppies were alright, I asked the maid if she had heard anything and she said the puppies cried all the time, I then decided to take Tammy home with me and her puppies and see that they were properly cared for.

The puppies and Tammy thrived with the extra care I gave to them and I decided that the little bitch with the missing foot had to have extra special attention, At six weeks old I found new homes for them and the little bitch went to a extra special home, with a friend of mine, whom I knew would love and care for her as she would if it were her own baby. This puppy was called Debbie, and yes she was cared for, and loved and went with her owner every where she went, Her missing foot did not bother her, and she was able to jump onto the beds as well as play with their seven other dogs, Debbie was spayed so as to avoid any unwanted pregnancy when she was 8 months old. And she blossomed, and grew and grew, she is a stunning dog, in all ways with a wonderful temperament and I just want to thank Nancy and Meisie for loving her.

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This is a combination of short stories not included in my first two books, on the lovely Chow Chow and other animals.


A few letters I have received from friends that received copies of my first book
Dear Carol,
Thank you so much for sending me a disk with your stories on it, I’m sorry I did not get back to you sooner but my computer was jammed.
However I finally got to read your stories, this morning and did enjoy them I never realized you had had 2 meerkats. The problem with animals like that is that when they get sick no –one really knows how to treat them except possibly a Zoo Vet and then they too probably don’t do one on one medicine, it’s very difficult but you certainly tried heroically to save that second little one. It must have been heart breaking to finally lose the battle.
Anyway take care, and I do hope the dogs are well and bringing you much pleasure not to mention that very large cat you had a photo of!)
Yours sincerely, Llew Evans
Veterinary Surgeon.






Dear Mrs. Dewrance,
BOOK ON THE CHOW CHOW

Just to acknowledge the safe receipt of your letter on the c.d. with your book on it and to say how much we appreciate your having sent it to us.
With every good wish.
Yours sincerely
Greg Eva
Kennel Union of Southern Africa.
Dear Carol,

Thank you for sending me your book on c.d. I have read the first story and it made me cry, well done and thank you again
Erica Thiart.
Editor of the ‘Noted Chow Chow.’

A Letter from Judy Fox Cheshire .
Thank you Carolyn for giving us this lovely book, I am going to print out all the stories and it will be easier to read then reading on the computer, I especially enjoyed the bit where the blue puppy was invited to Tessa’s milk bar.
I have not read the others yet, we have been so busy and poor Milly and Mabel had not been for a walk for over ten days so we have to catch up with our chores, not that taking M&M for a walk is a chore but you know what I mean. We have cut all the grass today and Fred has now started trimming the hedges in the front cannot do the back ones yet the birdies are nesting!!
Anyway in the next day or two I will print them all off I hope and would love some pictures Milly and Mabel are our first Chows and we absolutely adore them they are so funny. Mabel was lying on the grass before and it was the only bit of grass that Fred had not cut. She would not move for him so I went and said, “Will you excuse Daddy please Mabel”? She was on her right side so she picked up her head, doffed me with her left front paw and then put her head down and jammed her eyes closed. We took that as a “No, sorry” I had to ask her about four times before she eventually got up and said “Harrumph” and walked over to the other side of the garden and lay down I mean what other dogs does that!
Well I had better go and brush up for Fred, I hate that job but it is only fair to help. Worse Luck
Purple Kisses from Milly and Mabel
Judy.



WOOLIE

When I first arrived in Johannesburg, I wanted a Chow Chow again after loosing my first Chow Kimiko and one evening in the daily newspaper there was an advert for a good home for a chow chow, I phoned the owners who lived in Krugersdorp and arranged to go to meet them the following day, At that time I was married to Errol Mc Intyre and we decided that having no car of our own, we would take a train and meet the owners of Woolie, this was her name, at the railway station, On arrival there we were met by a young couple and a really lovely Chow Chow sitting in the back of their little Volkswagen, I told them I lived in a flat in Hillbrow in Johannesburg but would take really good care of their lovely Chow, They agreed to let me have her or they were going to have to put her down, as they were moving overseas. At that time I did not know the Chow Club even existed, Errol slipped a lead over Woolies lovely head and off we went, to catch the train back to Johannesburg, I guess I was smiling from ear to ear, Errol got onto the train with Woolie and as Robin and I went to get on, it pulled away from the station leaving us behind, There was Errol on his way back to Johannesburg with my dog and our train tickets, What now, I said to Robin that we should run to the next station which was not to far away and try and get there before the train, this we did and so started the sprint of my life, I never really did like running, Well half way down the road, I spotted a police car and ran to the policeman explaining in a puffed voice the story, he allowed us into the car and off we went sirens screaming to the next station, we got there with minutes to spare, thanking him, we were able to catch our train home with our lovely Chow.

In the mornings I would walk Robin to school and now I was able to take my lovely Chow with me, she was admired by everyone, and loved her morning walk, When we got home she would sleep on the balcony which was cool and big enough for her to exercise on.
Some months after getting her I joined a church group, and one Sunday morning after church the minister came to visit me, and on seeing my Chow was horrified that we were keeping her in our flat, He loved her on sight and suggested that as he had a farm, he thought it would be better for her to go and live with him, where she would have space to run to her hearts delight so he said, Well I was not to happy about parting with my faithful companion and I said that I would like to see his farm and meet his family before I made any decisions, after all she was my Chow and I loved her very much.
He arrived on Saturday Morning with his wife and two children, and we went out to the farm which was in Heidelberg, a long way to travel but I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived there, He had three other dogs of various breeds and all well cared for, The children got on well with Woolie and she with them and on allowing her off her lead, she made friends with the other dogs, He also had cats, and these she chased, great fun for a chow that had been cooped up in a small flat for the past year, I agreed that it would be better for her to be on the farm as long as he had her spayed so that she could not have puppies by his X breeds.
That night I cried at what I had done, but I knew in my heart that I had done the best for her, and that someday I would get another Chow to love and care for.
Sadly I never heard any more about her as I dropped the church, and did not keep in touch with him.

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TRISHA
Trish came to live with us at the age of 4 weeks old, she was a tiny but determined little black and tan Doberman cross Rottweiler, with a long tail, She had been born in Umlazi Township her parents belonging to a black family I got to hear about her from a black woman I worked with, and had heard that all the other puppies had died of Biliary before they had even had a chance to get onto their 4 feet. I asked her to bring Trisha to me and rushed her to the hospital, to get her inoculations and a check over, the Vet pronounced her well and we took this tiny puppy home to join our Chow chows, hoping that they would accept her. She grew and grew and soon was the light of my son Robin’s life, everywhere he went she went she never left his side, a guard dog supreme not only for us but for our neighbors as well. When Trish was 3 months old I got Luke a pedigree Doberman, to keep her company, I do not believe a dog of a certain breed should not have a partner of their own.
It was not long before they both took over the guarding of the neighbor hood, and would be burglars were to beware,
When they were both about a year old we had an episode one evening when we heard the Chows and the Doberman s going mad, and suspected an intruder in the garden, on going out we found that it was an intruder but of the animal kind, a huge wild pig had got into the yard and Trisha and Luke were chasing it around the yard into the bush, see my story on a pigs night out in my 1st book. One day I heard glass breaking in my neighbors house, and then the terrific barking of two dogs going absolutely mad, I ran out and saw that Trish and
Luke had got under the electric fence which was on between our yards, and had chased 2 intruders out of their house into the street, I phoned them and said they must come home as they had had a robbery, I crawled under the fence, trying not to touch the wires as to not get a shock and found that the robbers had smashed a front window to their bedroom and had removed a large amount of their belongings, which had been placed on the ground outside the window before my two very brave dogs had interfered, I stood guard with them until the owners of the house got home with the police. This was not to be the first robbery this family had and not the last that Trish and Luke chased away.
When she was 16 Months old we allowed her to mate to Luke, the first litter was not very successful and we lost 2 out of the 4 puppies, and sold the two that we had left. Then again when she was just over two we allowed her to have another litter, this time she produced a fantastic litter of 11 puppies all of which lived and all were sold at the age of 8 weeks over one weekend.
Trish went on to have a third litter, which was a problem litter, She went into premature labor and gave birth to 3 lovely puppies small but alive and then her labor stopped, I took her up to a New Vet as we had now moved to Waterfall and she was only tempting at the surgery I took her to, she said that Trish was fine and the puppies were fine and went on to give her a clean bill of health. 4 days later I walked into the bathroom at 4am on a Saturday morning to find Trisha cleaning an almost dead flaccid puppy, I counted the puppies and realized that she had just given birth to this little fellow, I took him to my room and rubbed him with a warm towel, until I heard him take a breath, I kept him warm in the bed with me until it was time to get up and took Trish straight to the Vet, with the tiny puppy, I explained to him what had happened and how she had been given a clean bill of health by his Temp Vet, He did a scan on her and found that she still had another puppy inside but it was already dead and mummified, he gave her an oxytocin injection to bring the puppy down and then examined the new born one, Saying that he was a very lucky little fellow to be alive, This one we called Miracle and survive he did growing quickly and was soon bigger then his brothers and sisters. I was very reluctant to part with him he was such a special puppy, but a gentle man phoned me and said he had heard that we had puppies for sale and when I told him we only had Miri left he insisted on coming to see him, Of course he fell in love with the little fellow immediately and offered me more than I was asking for, just to be the owner of this lovely puppy.
Trisha was a wonderful mother, and loved her little puppies.
She loved to swim in our dam and chase the Koi that lived in it, she also loved to chase the beautiful “Egyptian Geese” that also shared the dam with the fish, and if she was not near the house all you had to do was go to the dam and there she and Luke were having a good time in the dam.
Trisha sadly passed to higher grounds from Biliary when she was 8 years old. Gone was a wonderful watchdog never to be forgotten.

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