Dog Painting commission from Brede near Hastings in East Sussex.

Short story about the dogs.

It difficult to express just how special/different ..unique this little family is and that’s not just me looking through rose tinted glasses..truly the story is quite something.

And so.
Over thirty years ago now My then new wife wanted a dog, something I had not just not wanted but by my own upbringing had  disciplined me to afford them some distain….’shit machines’ a quote from my farther!.
However Depending on your point of view I had my own faults and preference one of which was shooting ( just the mention of this subject can produce disruptions in the equilibrium of life)  that said I have now revealed the sole reason for being persuaded to having a dog..and of course the breed.

What a bloody shock a Springer is!…‘probably the best dog in the world’ that is if you are mad, maverick eccentric exuberant FIT and want to give up all things clean in your life. And so over the years we have always had a Springer, one particular dog Flash, formally trained but abandoned due to its looks became our best friend.
The dog was truly clever fearsly competitive and loved to belittle other dogs, especial on shoots, which it learnt to do with aplomb. In order to preserve some of its knowledge and traits we succumb to a second dog, a pup which in our stupidity we expected  would get on with and learn from Flash.
Another BIG learning curve…however it was not a total train crash and so with perseverance this has been the status quo in our house for the dogs until…things went wrong.
Our older dog ( by then George) developed a tumour and died leaving the recently introduced pup without a friend… that pup turned into, sadly, a frail and week dog but with the most endearing character unlike any other Springers that we had had. loving and I suppose dependant( not a trait normally used to describe one) .
The animal was a struggle besides costing a lot in vet fees and we could see that its days were going to be limited….yes we could not leave it to die on its own so we rescued a Springer , 9 months or so old, apparently ‘trained’ but rejected by previous owner due to its exuberance….this is a story in its self , so just to say we rescued it anyway.
The dog was bonkers..but so happy that someone wanted it..ho and it had a friend..Joe the week dog, which it befriended in the most astonishing manor, developing Joes endearing side….weird we now had a Springer  like a normal dog at home but utterly hyper when out doing its thing.
inevitably Joe died a year or so later……then the real tragedy started.
Whilst out shooting rabbits a flook accident, too complicated to go into, resulted in Alfs front left leg being smashed to pieces.
Our vet simply gave him a sedative and told me to take him to the RVC some 60 mile away.
Ok, loose the leg or maybe for around 9k we could try to fix it…what they did not tell us was that we had to re-build our kitchen and turn it into a make shift hospital room for 12 weeks too.
Suffering MRSA, more bits of exoskelital metal work and open wounds than expected we quickly turned into vet nary nurses….and yes he still has his leg!
Once fully recovered…with a slight  limp, still bonkers and even more affectionate we decided to get him a friend.
Another rescue attracted our attention, a young bitch…we had never had a bitch but being soft in the head….yes Mia arrived.
So many people warned us not to go there…both would need neutering and they will fight and the heavens will fall around us.
Not so….far worse!…they got on very well Alf really took to having a young friend and they rapidly became inseparable….so what’s bad about that?
MIa started to get week and ill. our vets could not find out why….in the end we asked them to refer her to Fitzpatrics…maybe the Super vet could help?
Yep.. she had a liver shunt…her liver had grown a bypass tube through it and she was gradually poisoning herself…..you cannot believe how much this very rare operation cost.
All credit to these people…they were fabulous and did the job and a few months later we decided that the pair should have one go at…well what dogs and all other animals do.
‘It never works first time’ and, ‘you cant have both parents together with pups’ and all manor of put off advice was bestowed upon us by the knowing.
The obvious bit went well…as friends to us it all worked out and both dogs seemed happy.( nearly there….just hang in for the ending)
After some months of anxiety the day arrived and at 10pm her waters broke….at 11pm we called the Vet.
She was breached and the pup was dead..only one option…emergency C section to save the Mia…the pups maybe.
At 12pm we get a call, Mia is ok but only two pups are alive….but one is not moving and is probably brain dead due to oxygen starvation and the other is cleft so will die in the next few hours anyway, should we euthanize them now or would you like to see them first?
We went and collected Mia and her pups and I set about devising a way of inserting a feeding tube into her ( Tinkerbelle’s) stomach….the other pup (Ambe)r Denise encouraged to suckle.
Over the next 6 weeks Tink needed feeding every 1.5 to 2 hours and amber swelled up to resemble a fat guinea pig…compared to Tink’s tiny frame.
Tink was always lively and as soon as she could see she learnt to stand…amber just slobbed about and got fatter after all she could have every teat to herself.
Now 18 months on we have two adorable dogs…Amber was just ‘ an ugly ducking’ and turned into a fantastic animal and Tink defied all odds to become one of the few living dogs with a cleft pallet
After one year when Tink was fully grown she underwent surgery to correct the worst of the cleft… that was successfully and has made her life and ours much easier.
This story, as you can guess is  the extremely condensed version of events ….I told you that A novel would be needed to cover just this families short existence.

In line with all the best stories though….things worked out fine in the end.