Category Archives: photographs

Bone Sunday

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Dear Zak,

Yes, it’s a traditional Sunday – a longer sleep in for us and bones for the dogs. Themba is not quite as obsessed with his bone as the others and will ask to get let back into the house before we are even fully dressed. Standards have definitely changed since your day – Marianne most certainly does NOT allow bones on the bed – so all bones must be left outside. Greeta will chew hers for a long time, Tia too but Themba is not that obsessed with his.

Everyone definitely knows that it’s Sunday and there’s often a bit of a false start when Greeta jumps up on the bed and Themba gets up to stretch. Marianne will ignore the hint and the culprits are told in no uncertain terms to go back to sleep. It only works once.

We are going away in September to the UK to see Duncan and friends and off to Italy for six days to see an old army buddy who made contact through my other blog. I have never been to Italy so am looking forward to seeing a new place – the house is in Cortona. We are hiring a dog-sitter to look after Themba, Tia and Greeta; yes he’s looked after them before and we are much happier with him than sending them out to a kennel.

It’s been a funny old winter – not very cold at all. We are still going out to ART farm early in the morning and it can be quite cold down in the vlei on the way there. On Monday it was 20C but by midday it was 28! The lands where we walk have had maize growing on them last season so the cattle have been put in to clean up the old stover. I’m not sure why they’d be interested in old, dry maize trash but they are and there’s a lot of dung around as a result. Themba and Tia love eating it! Why I cannot imagine, they get a VERY good diet at home and both Marianne and I find it infuriating. I don’t recall you ever being interested in dung but then my memory is not what it used to be which is one reason to keep going with this blog. One day I might need to rely on it and of course I’ll think of you and smile.

Love you.

Smiler Girl

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Big, gentle Roxy

Dear Zak,

There were three biscuits as usual on the sink this morning. I unlocked the back door but there was no gentle mouth by my left hand when I let it fall to my side, waiting to take the biscuit from it. Roxy was not there. My Smiler Girl is gone.

We took Roxy to the vet yesterday morning after a particularly energetic visit to the Wag Zone where I took these photos. She’d been diagnosed a month or so back with liver cancer and Marianne had to giver her chemotherapy drugs as well as a very complicated diet in light of her pancreatitis. At first she coped but recently had become very picky and was eating less and less and losing weight. The vet redid the ultrasound scan and the news was not good – the cancer had spread and was aggressive. The decision was made to stop the chemotherapy, bring her home and spoil her with whatever she really liked to eat for the few weeks she was estimated to have left.

Around 10 p.m. last night she became very distressed and was clearly bloated and in a lot of pain. We rushed her back to the vet who diagnosed gastric torsion (which saw the end of Jenni all those years ago) and Marianne made the decision to let her go. She was not even seven years old. Poor girl, she did not have good luck with her health even when she was younger.

I will miss her big, goofy smile with ears curled back that greeted me when I came home. Smiler. Run free soft girl. I stroked her soft muzzle one last time then we laid her to rest next to you my boy.

Run Smiler

Themba – the dog on a log

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A dog on the log – Themba’s training is bearing fruit

Dear Zak,

I really think all Themba’s training is starting to mean something! Yesterday I took him to work without Tia for the first time. He behaved, sort of, if one discounts peeing on my truck tyres, Fabian’s motorbike wheel (twice) and barking at people he knows. He did stay within 10 metres of me while I walked around the nursery and even went up and down the stairs all by himself. Yes, you learnt to do that while you were still a puppy but Themba is different in a very Ridgeback way. He even got into the cab of the truck without having to be bribed.

On the way out to Emerald Seedlings he sat in the back area behind the seats just like you used to do – looking out the windscreen to see what was going on. It didn’t last long but maybe in time he’ll get the idea.

Early morning walk at the Wag Zone. Marianne, Themba, Roxy and Tia rooting around in the grass.

Roxy, poor girl, is not well. The vet thinks she might have pancreatic cancer but he cannot be sure with the imaging equipment he has. Always on the chubby side now she is thin and struggling to keep the weight on. She still in good spirits though and enjoys outings to the Wag Zone twice a week. We haven’t been to ART Farm since I’ve been in hospital. One day, maybe, Themba will learn to run with the truck like you used to. I used to love watching you run.

Miss you as always…

Themba – getting possessive

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Themba (right) and Lunde get to grips Ridgeback style

Dear Zak,

It’s been a while since I last wrote; by way of excuse I’ve had lower back surgery so haven’t been doing much with Themba. He has been entertaining us though and just after I got out of hospital he did make me very proud.

Marianne had gone out shopping and hired a retired nurse to come in for an hour or two to keep an eye on me as I was not mobile at all and needed help to get to the bathroom, especially as I had a vacuum dressing device attached to my back which had to be carried around with me.

Themba was on the be next to me when the nurse came up the passage. Neither of us had met her before. Themba was not impressed and started barking even before he could see her. It wasn’t aggressive barking and fortunately she was unfazed but he was still not impressed. He even growled when she got me to stand up from the bed. Then Mike the electrician came in to fit a surge protector on the solar inverter and he barked at him too even though he has met him several times. I was so proud of him!

Feeling very pleased with himself having told-off the nurse and electrician for getting too close

I have only just started getting around in the car by myself so we haven’t been going to ART farm. Marianne has been going to the Wag Zone twice a week with the girls and Themba. They inevitably come back dirty. Tia of course cannot resist going into the ponds and now that they are low they are very muddy.

This morning I had a meeting to discuss the upcoming 100th anniversary of the local Ridgeback Club. We are known as the parent club because Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known then, is where Rhodesian Ridgebacks were first bred and the club was formed in Bulawayo back in 1922. A gathering is planned on 13th August at the Wag Zone where people will bring along their dogs for a photo shoot and general celebration of the “national dog”. I don’t think such a title exists anywhere in the world though curiously the South Africans like to claim the Rhodesian Ridgeback as theirs!

Pearly whites – just for show

Lunde, who is owned by the chairman, and Themba got on and played while the rest of us discussed the business. Themba has met her several times before but initially was very defensive of “his” car and took a while to get out. Fortunately Lunde is very friendly and ignored the growling and barking. Later Lunde heard something to bark at and Themba, ever the fierce lion hunter, chose to defend me from the safety of my lap!

The fierce lion-hunter shows his true colours

Ah well, discretion is the better part of valour.

Love you as always.

Themba the otter

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Webbed paw and all…

Dear Zak,

We think Themba might be crossed with an otter. He even has webbed paws (actually all dogs have partially webbed paws) and has taken to swimming like, well, an otter!

We got the fence around the pool taken down a couple of weeks back as he wasn’t looking like he’d be very keen on swimming and I thought that even if he did fall in he’s big enough to easily get out at the steps, we’d just have to keep an eye on him. He was certainly interested in the fish ponds though. When Tia swam he’d dip a paw or two into the water at the steps but nothing more. Then one day he got right into the pool – all four paws. Then he was right in and he’ll swim most days after tea in the afternoon. He gets quite carried away and will swim right to the deep end and back.

You were never a fan of water and Kim hated it but would swim after me if I went into a dam. Jenni of course would run through any puddle she could find and though she’d go into the night storage dam I never actually saw her swim. Kharma was indifferent to water.

Waiting to go, anywhere will do.

Themba has also picked up on the waiting in the car tradition started by Tina. So far I have only taken him a short way into Avondale to pick up seeds from my supplier. Like you he likes to come along for the ride. This afternoon he barked at the person who came to delver the seed. I pretended to be a bit cross but was secretly quite pleased that he was feeling a bit territorial. He can get into the front of the truck easy enough and into the back if he feels like it, which is once so far!

He will be six months old in three weeks time. We haven’t weighed him recently but he’s at least as tall as Tia and I should think 25kg or so. I don’t think he will be as tall as you. He has a bark that I think will match yours and uses it a lot when playing with Tia but with Roxy he’s completely quiet.

Love you as always.

Four-square

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Themba standing four-square and showing his potential

Dear Zak,

Themba has had a busy few weeks since I last wrote. We went back to see Fynn who was delighted to meet us again and they had a boisterous time until Themba suffered the ultimate indignity of being “beaten up” by a cantankerous old sausage dog! No contact was made but Themba yowled long and loud. How embarrassing. Well, that was the end of the play date and as it was a Friday afternoon it was time to make out way back home again.

We also had another play date with a Labrador, Ollie, of six months. He was clueless. It didn’t start well with both him and another adult Lab mobbing both of us before we’d even got out of the pickup. It took a while for things to settle down.

Ollie is not much bigger than Themba but has absolutely no idea about play etiquette and kept running straight into Themba and knocking him over. Themba eventually got fed up and told him so. Not an entirely wasted session as he has to know how to deal with dogs who are like Ollie!

Where has the little puppy gone? 16.5kg and growing…

Themba is still maintaining a weight gain of a kg per week. Now he’s 16.5kg and the little puppy of eight weeks ago is long gone. He still has that cute puppy waddle but is running more like an adult dog now – no scampering. We got him a special bowl with lumps in it to slow down his eating which I think was even faster than yours. It’s slowed him down a bit but he’s working out how to speed the gobble up again.

Roxy and Themba seem to have come to an agreement; she growls when warning and he takes notice. There haven’t been any confrontations this past week so hopefully the snap-and-yowl is mostly behind us. We are careful when food is around to keep them separate but have yet to cross the bone bridge. We’ll get to it along with swimming pool awareness training.

We took the whole pack to a newish dog park in Highlands yesterday to get a bit of exposure to meeting other dogs and for quite a while were the only ones there. I guess it was early for a Saturday. Some Beagles arrived just before we left and all was fine though Roxy seemed a bit anxious. She’ll get used to it.

A warm, hairy chin-rest in the form of Tia. Life cannot be too bad.

Training is going well though Themba has learnt to anticipate when he is going to be called by either Marianne or myself. We’ve even tried code words such as “Thursday” or, “after this command” but he even recognizes those and bolts to the next person before we’ve finished. A clever little boy. Mind you we are using very high value treats; biltong bits.

Themba – in training

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I think I’ve had enough of this leash thing

Dear Zak,

Themba is 13 weeks old today and on Friday he weighed 13 kilograms. That’s a kilogram a week that he’s put on since we got him. Yes, he loves his food just like you did and we are seriously considering getting him a special bowl just to slow him down a bit.

The training has started in earnest and we are making progress. He’s not so keen on the walking on a leash but will recall to a treat quite successfully and has learnt to sit and lie down. Fetching has never been a strong instinct for ridgebacks but Themba will give it a go if he’s fetching a treat.

There have been a few hiccups. He plays with Roxy quite nicely but she can be over-reactive and there have been a few squealing fits when she over-did her disciplining. She can also be a bit heavy-pawed in the playing and has squashed him on a couple of occasions. Cheryl said just to ignore it and let them get to know the rules but Marianne has decided to get a dog behaviourist in tomorrow to give us some tips. Themba has got a bit of a dent on top of his head from Roxy – we didn’t see what happened but it looks like there are two bite marks on her chest so maybe he got carried away. We’ll see how it goes.

Tia can get a bit excited when playing but she does give him plenty of warning when she’s had enough and we’ve never heard him yelp when playing with her.

Playing by the rules – this time

On Christmas Day we went to Jeanette’s and took along Themba to play with her Django. He’s seven months old, big and very boisterous ridgeback. I’d been over a few days earlier to make introductions and Jeanette had brought in a dog trainer who works with military dogs and mine detection dogs to give tips and advice. Django was kept under control and it was all fine on the day. Luckily he is a gentle fellow despite all his energy and with a couple of exceptions, when Django had to be reined-in, they played well.

We have started Themba on short walks on the farm now that he’s had all his vaccinations and has a tick repellent. Marianne insists on putting a harness on him for easy handling but he doesn’t like it and last week just sat down an refused to move with it on. He’ll get used to it.

Themba

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Themba

Dear Zak,
We picked Themba up from the airport a week ago. Not quite the same place that you arrived at but he’d also had a long day and was crying a lot so Marianne went to chat to him whilst I started the clearing process.

The customs official was a bit suspicious of the invoice I showed him that gave his value at $75 but he couldn’t really do much about it. The whole process took about 2 hours and this time we didn’t have to wait for their lunch break like I did for you. Luckily it wasn’t too hot and he slept on the back seat all the way home.

Marianne with Themba in his gay pride/rainbow nation harness

Tia was delighted with Themba, Roxy not. This was pretty much as we expected. Roxy wasted no time in letting him know that he was to keep his nose well clear of our bed – this was her territory. Themba was still learning the rules so there were a few tense moments and the occasional bout of yelping but no contact was made so no blood spilt.

By the end of the day he had chewed and gouged my forearm, humped it and demonstrated a bark to be noticed. My boy had arrived.

We did not get a lot of sleep the first night and Marianne got up at some silly hour to let him out for a potty break. She did it again the second night but now it’s easier to clean up in the morning. Themba has proven himself to be quite the Dump Monster but in his defence he is being fed four times a day and what goes in must eventually come out. I do recall, my boy, that you also took a while to house train and one night after a fruitless wait on the back lawn you came back into the house and left a deposit by the TV. I was unimpressed.

Roxy does play with Themba but she can be a bit rough, not like Kharma was with you. She does tend to swat him into the ground and the yelping follows.

On Sunday we were outside the back kitchen door doling out ice lolly treats of frozen chicken stock. You loved them and so did Themba. Then he went snuffling in the grass where Roxy had been eating hers. Big mistake. She made a lot of noise, Themba made a lot of noise, but once again – no blood.

Monday was not a good day. Roxy was defending her bed with formidable growls and Tia was telling him to get lost and not pull her tail. It was dreadfully hot too and I arrived home to a very tense household. I even got hold of Cheryl in South Africa and she said she’d take Themba back if we really couldn’t handle the situation. I decided to sleep on it.

The next day Roxy was playing with Themba as he tried to get onto her bed! He even snuggled onto her mattress on the floor reminiscent of you sharing Kharma’s chair with her. It’s been much easier since. Roxy plays, still a bit heavy pawed and Tia will play and Themba doesn’t go for her tail much. He’s not going back to Jo’burg.

He is a clever lad and responds to his name and my whistle when he feels like it. If there’s food in the offing he’s especially responsive. A lot like you my boy!

On the road watching the girls exercise

He came with us to the farm this morning and watched Marianne and the girls out in front on the road. He’s too small to do any decent walking but he’ll get there soon enough. Then I wonder what sort of adventures we’ll have?

One day I will be able to run fast like Zak!

Go softly into the night

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My first photo – already I am well posed!

You rubbed my ears.

Yes, I promised I would.

You loved me.

Of course, we still do.

You cried.

I never promised not to.

You gave me a wonderful life. All dogs should have a life like that.

Yes, they should.

Please give another dog the chance for a life like I had.

In time my boy, in time. Now I need the pain to ease which could take some time

How will you remember me?

Oh, lots of ways. Always ready to chase something. Your puppy-soft ears. Your amazing good looks – my beautiful boy.

Bliss is…getting my chest scratched

You loved having your chest scratched.

Yes, I did. You scratched it last night when you slept next to me. Just like old times when there was space for me on the bed.

And you looked at me in that special way by bending your head back to make eye contact.

To show you how much I loved you.

You did that in the mornings when you came onto Tia’s bed and waited for love and attention.

Of course, the best time of the day. Before breakfast.

You did always love your food.

Especially avocados and biltong in the evenings.

We could never get the avocados off you, unlike with Roxy.

With Roxy it’s always just a game, with me it was serious!

And of course you were a chaser.

Yes, I really could run! I loved racing against the car on the farm. 50 km per hour at a burst.

Now you can run all you like. Kharma is buried next to you.

Gentle Kharma, the substitute mother who kept me in my place.

Yes she did. And of course I have this blog, filled with memories. You are everywhere, on your bed when I look into the spare room that’s always got your name on it. Barking when I came home, barking when we were about to go for walks on the farm. A real Mr Barker at times. Regal on top of Rukotsu at Nyanga.

The world at his feet

I am so desperately sorry that it all had to end like this, we really thought you were on the road to another remission.

It was not to be, you did what you thought was best for me and it didn’t work. Now there’s no pain, I can breathe easy and there’s running to be done!

Run well my beautiful Zak, run free. Love you lots.

Love you too!

That’s not fair!

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I’d rather be running

That’s not fair!

I’m sorry my boy, cancer is brutally unfair.

Why can’t you take me along for the ride then, it’s better than lying here.

Because it’s so difficult to get you into the pickup. I can’t help and Marianne is not strong enough. That’s how you hurt your leg last weekend and look how far it’s put you back. I know how much you like getting out but I needed to take Roxy and Tia for a run to get rid of some energy.

I wanted to come with you to work on Thursday too.

I know, I know. I remember how much you liked coming to the office with me even if you didn’t do much when we got there.

Us Ridgebacks have good eyesight so it was always great to see what was going on from the front seat. And I dig get to chase the odd chicken when you weren’t looking.

Jenni also liked coming along for the ride, she’d often see francolin before I did when we were out on the farm.

I’m not going to run again am I?

No, I don’t think so. I am building a wheelchair to support your back leg. That will allow you to run.

So that’s what that thing is. Not sure I’ll like it.

Please try, you will be able to move much quicker.

Oh, I do miss running! I can still run in my dreams.

So can I.

You haven’t always used walking sticks then?

No, when I was young I could run. I wasn’t as fast as you of course  but I did enjoy it.

Wow, I’d have loved to go running with you!

We can run together in our dreams.

Yes, we can. That will be fun.  I will slow down for you.