Paddy is a Labrador / Australian Cattle Dog cross. He was born on January 13, 2000 and was surrendered to the local dog pound on July 3, 2001. We picked him out on July 14, 2001, and officially rescued him from death row on July 17, 2001.
Click on any image below to enlarge
Paddy would like to thank Schultz for making him aware of the existence of Rowland Reserve.
We picked up Greg, an American Staffordshire Cross, from Meadow Mist on Sunday November 11, 2001. We learnt of his existence through Monika's Doggie Rescue. We figured Paddy needed a playmate, and this dog looked ideal. We have him on a two-week trial, but are confident he and Paddy will get on OK. At the moment they're establishing who's boss, but are playing well together. I'll say more once we decide to keep him.
Saturday November 18, 2001
We have decided not to keep Greg. Getting on with Paddy was not the problem. Greg was too aggressive towards the kids. We have taken him back to Meadow Mist. He is not on death row.
December, 2001
Third time lucky? We have a new dog, Mickey. We got him from the same place we got Paddy, so that's another innocent dog's life saved. He was born on May 25, 2001, so he's still quite young and lively. I took some "analog" pictures but they didn't work out, so here's the one digital one I have of him so far with 2 of the kids.
He is a black Labrador cross, and has much longer hair than Paddy. The two of them wake up at around 5:30 and start running around the yard making a lot of noise. Hopefully this behaviour will change when they both grow up a bit!
January 2003
A few months ago we gave Paddy away to some other people living in Berowra who are more energetic than we are. I visited him a few weeks ago for the first time. He seemed pleased to see me, letting me pat him through the gate (the owners were not home). Then another dog came up and started barking. I turned to go and the dog bit me on the lower back through the gate. I won't be returning.
April 2003
Just when I thought there would be little more to report on the dogs - this happened: Last month Anja found Paddy wandering the streets on more than one occasion. She called the new owners, who took him back. Once he actually stayed overnight because we were unable to contact them.
Then, a few weeks ago, we got a call from the Thornleigh dog pound: "We've got your dog here!". "You can't have", answered Anja, "as here's here asleep". "Do you own a beige Labrador cross?". "If you mean Paddy then not any more." It turned out the new owners had no re-registered him under so the microchip scan showed our details in the database. Anja gave them the new owners' contact details, but they did not want Paddy back (!), as the reason he was in the pound was that he had killed a cat. The pound was now obliged to tell any prospective new owners of his "crime". So it turned out that we were Paddy's only hope. We took him back.
Welcome back home Paddy!
Tsk, tsk! There's just no room for me here!
Septermber 27, 2004
Paddy added to his criminal record last Saturday in that he escaped from our backyard, ran off and killed the neighbours' two pet rabbits.
We made the very hard decision that we could no longer keep him.
I made an appointment for him to be euthanised.
I said good-bye to Paddy and he then went to sleep in my arms at just before 5pm this afternoon - very peacefully - no drama. The vet and staff were excellent.
As I write this the experience is only 3 hours old. It is hard to think of anything else.
Peter
:'(
