ooch Sc Issue No. 16
January 2012
p
M O NTHLY
Springwood diStrict dog training club inc.
The Paul & Maryjka Story T
o own a pet to a number of people can be quite an experience. My wife and I have, over the past 22 years, had the honour to be the custodians of 5 of our four legged canine friends. Unfortunately four of our lovable companions have left us and we are now left with our Golden Labrador, Bree. As a child I had my last pet when I was 4 years of age, a Golden Labrador named Shane. He was raised by my older brothers and sisters. My wife’s family have always had dogs, there was Dizzy the Old English Sheepdog, Mooch the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Mazurek the Wire Haired Terrier, to name a few. During our married life we have had two Newfoundlands and two St Bernard’s. The Newfoundlands, Ned and Mish both lived us for 8 years each over a 17 year period. Ned, our grey, was to say at the least a champion scholar. He was extremely smart, very cunning in a cute way, and great rapport with our four children as they grew up, really giving us 5 children. He was always very affectionate to Paul with Bree
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Bill, Ella, Mary-Anne & Mick
the kids, my wife and I. He had the ability to be the cheekiest food thief you have ever seen and when he decided to go for a wander to visit his girlfriend up the street. All the neighbours knew him and he always managed to find his way home. When we brought Mish after Ned passed away we Maryjka and Bree made the mistake of just assuming the he would be exactly the same as Ned, but as we all know, each of us, whether human or canine, is an individual and we all have our own characteristics . Mish was a home dog, liked to be around the kids, liked walks around Winmalee and loved sleeping in front of the fireplace in winter. He would often sneak out at night for a little stroll but would always be found on the front door step when I left to go to work in the morning. In 2006 we purchased our first St Bernard, Tank a brown and white smooth coat male. Now he was an exception to the rule, my wife’s best mate and a great mate to our adult kids. He was really the most human dog imaginable. There was not a day that went by that Tank did not amuse us, he just had that ability to please anybody he came in touch with at any time. It was a very sad day on the 31 October 2010 Continued on page 3