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Post by larrynz on Jul 2, 2007 18:51:38 GMT -5
Space Tales
My son took Space from a poor home when he was a pup, at the time Terry was not living at home, the little we knew was he was bred on a farm, at a guess Border Collie X Huntaway. Next time he came home the pup came with him, when Terry left again Space remained. This was OK, Space had already claimed me, sat beside me, and followed me around, a shadow.
No order to these stories, as they pop into my head, at one time Terry was staying next to a farm, the farmer was semi retired, trained dogs, part hobby, part income. One day I was asking about his training methods, “When do you start the training”, “You don’t” he said, “Just wait until they show the signs”
On another visit the same man was moving some sheep, cursed he never had a dog with him, I took a chance and turned Space loose, he rounded those sheep up like he had been doing it all his life, put them through the gate without missing one.. The farmer with typical country reserve said “good dog” Space was at least eight at the time and had no farm training.
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One day I had a salesman at the door, long forgotten the who and why, Space tried to push past me to check him out, I could see the man was nervous, so I left Space inside and closed the door. He went down to a bedroom pushed the window open and walked along the window sill, then jumped down onto the terrace where we were. Scared hell out of that salesman, but Space was where he wanted to be, so just sat down. I think he would have been telling the story to his wife that night.
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We were in the country and he came across a rabbit, he chased it up and down hill, then he stopped and let the rabbit head into the bush, it was play, he could have caught it, the fun is in the chase.
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Often on the way home I would go past the road to Mangere Mountain, when I had time I would go up the mountain and let him have a good run, he loved the mountain. Then I noticed how exited he got when I planned to go up that mountain, this before I turned off, I was puzzled, then I thought he hears the blinker, so on the next visit I never signaled, he still got excited before I got to the turn off. When I planned to go past I had no reaction from him, I still have no idea how he knew.
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We had been in a nice country district, hills and streams trees and flat, he had run around and been swimming, for him all the things he loved. When we got home I backed into the garage, he sat beside me, as I switched the engine off he moved over and pressed himself on to me and looked up, he was saying “That was a great day”, I will never forget that look.
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He loved to play ball and could keep it up for ages, some times I took him to work, on this day an 18 year old pupil of mine wanted to play with him at lunch time, a Samoan lad, very fit, trained for boxing, I told him Space would out last him, Andrew said he would win. Space won.
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He was not a dog that sought a lot of fuss but once a day he would climb on my lap, lay on his back and I would rub his chest, fuss time.
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He was smart enough to know when I was going out, he would sneak outside and hide in my car, the first I knew was when I looked in the mirror and saw his head.
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He seemed to have the ability to get in my head, I could be sitting watching TV, I would feel his pressure, when I turned around he would be looking at me giving me the “Walk time” look.
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One time I was visiting Terry when he lived outside Huntly, we went for a walk around the farm, Terry, Granddaughter Melissa and Terry’s dog Tele, she was very fond of Space, an older dog that could swim. We stopped at a large pond and Space was in, he loved to swim, meanwhile Tele whined on the bank, eventually Tele took the plunge and went in as well, a few awkward moments and then Tele got the hang of it and found swimming was a great pastime on a hot day. She never could catch up to Space but she had a lot of fun trying.
Next we headed back to the house, long walk and a hot day, both dogs stopped at a cattle trough for a drink, Space not being country wise got too close to the fence, his tail hit the electric fence while he was drinking, he yelped so loud I think they heard it in town. So he walked back very thirsty, when we got back to the house I put water down for Space, it was at least an hour before he would touch it, even then it was from my cupped hand only. He never trusted Huntly water after that.
We stayed over in a ‘sleep out’, during the night there was a commotion outside the door, I opened it and found Tele, she wanted company so I let her in, and spent the rest of the night with two dogs on the bed. Happy days.
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Just a few things about my old dog that popped into my head, he was a character, never to be forgotten, love the ones we have now, but Space was special.
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The years went by and life was good, slowly he gained a few grey hairs but still chased ball and swum like a fish, one day I came home and found him standing still eyes ticking like a clock, off to the vet, a stroke he said. He gave him an anti inflammatory shot and said chances were slim, think about putting him down. He had improved by the next morning, eyes normal, staggered rather than walked, day by day he improved, I had to lift him into the truck but he still enjoyed the ride, we walked by the beach, but he never went for a swim.
A month went past, he was doing well, one evening one of my daughters called in with her kids, one by one Space went up to the kids and made a fuss of them, this unusual as he was not very trusting of kids, liked to keep away. The next day I was repairing a drawer in the bedroom, Space came in and nestled in to me, I gave him a fuss and said I would be there in a minute, it was almost his dinner time.
It would have been 15 minutes later I went into the kitchen, got his plate down, that mostly made him appear, no Space, I went outside looking for him, he was on the path dead. I had tears, and mixed feelings, we had 15 good years, it was his time.
The following day I buried him in his basket, that basket he slept in so often beside my chair. I planted a standard rose on his grave, that was 5 years ago, I get the most beautiful blooms.
I’m sure he waits by the Rainbow Bridge.
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