A DOG NAME AMEY

The Day She Came to Us

We had to listen to a dog howling and crying in despair for several nights since we do not usually hear any dog at night where we live; such a sound was most unusual and not very pleasant since the dog obviously was either unhappy or seeking something or someone. We thought that the dog might belong to one of the builders who worked next door since our neighbour had been building a large luxury villa and large park for the last year employing many builders and security a night. This leads me to ask one day if any of the workers on the site owned a dog; some did but did not bring the dog to work nor left it behind at night.

We live in a beautiful place 600 meters above the Mediterranean overlooking Monaco with the known international casino, only 2200 meters directly in bird’s distance from our house. There are only a handful of villas surrounding us, most with large gardens or parks. All on a private road leading up to the military installation for Nato overlooking the whole Meditorinian region from Gibraltar to the Black Sea. In addition, we have the Monte Carlo Golf Club near the top, close to the residence of Prince Rainier. It was from this place that Princess Grace drove with her daughter and ultimately died in a car crash.

As I did my regular walk up the mountain to the Monte Carlo golf club in the late afternoon, I passed a villa 400 meters from our place from where I heard the sound of the dog, which I thought immediately must be the dog we have heard crying at night and I decided that on my way down I would speak to the owner of the Villa and tell them about our concern for the dog.

When I, 40 minutes later, went back down the mountain, I found two gendarme cars parked at the entrance of the Villa from where I had heard the dog. The gates were just open, and on one of the entrance gates, I saw a young Alsatian dog standing high up like a mountain goat, obviously in deep distress and despair. One gendarme was water hoarsening the dog, which had a negative effect, and the dog appeared most unhappy with froth coming out of the mouth. At that point, one of the gendarmes asked me if I knew anything about the dog, which I immediately said I did not; in fact, I wanted to complain about the dog crying out at night, which I believe was this dog. He told me that they considered the dog to be very dangerous, and he had ordered a unit of the gendarmes who had rifles from Eze to come and shoot the dog.

I immediately told the gendarmes that they should find out first who the dog belongs to; surely, they do not just shoot dogs. He said to me that this dog is wild and they can’t take any risk, “just look at the dog”. I told them that any dog would become upset if lots of people stood shouting at them and water horsing them at the same time. I could see it was a female dog (a bitch), which generally is not so aggressive as a male dog. Therefore, I suggested climbing up and getting the dog down if they could help me get up there. They strongly warned me against this since the dog really looked vicious and most dangerous; I said that I am not frightened of any dog or animal; if you approach them to help them, they will understand.

The gendarmes got me a ladder and held it to the ground while I went up the ladder with everybody looking scared expecting the worse. I got close to the dog, took hold of her body, and lifted the dog gently, her body weighing around 35-40 kilo; at that moment, she stopped barking and totally relaxed. I slowly went down the ladder and when I reach the ground, put her down, to the fright of everybody. The dog seemed so happy and jumped with joy, circumnavigating around me, twitching his tail, to the great surprise of the gendarmes and the owner of the property.

Before the gendarmes had suggested anything, I said I will take care of her and bring her to her possible owner, which I still believe could be one of the building workers or security people working next door to us.

Walking away from the gendarmes and saying goodbye to the owner of the Villa, the dog was making sounds of ecstatic joy and still jumping around in the happiest of moods, waging its tale and watching me with hopeful eyes. Walking another 250 meters down the road to my neighbour’s building site, I lifted her over the fence and felt happy that she might be back to her owner, but not so, she immediately found her way out and joined me in walking on the road, again showing her happy mood jumping around like a gazette, so light on her feet, and staying close to me.

It was strange that she was an Alsatian because our son Alexander had a few months before been searching the Internet and going to a German website looking for Alsatian dogs, which he had always wanted us to get. Not that we had decided to buy a dog, but we had talked about getting dogs (always more than one) when we had refurbished and rebuilt our Villa, with some permanent staff living in.

Dogs are a considerable responsibility and always have to be considered since you can’t just leave them alone. Since we travel regular to London and many other places, we couldn’t have a dog. Therefore, I could not see how we could keep the dog if we did not find the owner.

The other of our neighbours Jacques, living at the entrance to our Villa, in the former caretaker’s house, was a retired director where he had been in charge of the entertainment of the company SBM, which owned all the casinos and hotels in Monaco. He founded the annual Circus Festival together with the Prince. Prince Rainier had moved him and his wife to this house after Princess Grace died in the car crash, ending up in his garden in Cap D’air. Jacques had for many years worked closely with Princess Grace, and in the days before her death, he had been working with her on the annual Red Cross Ball. 

When I walked by with the dog, I told him and his wife (Josette, a retired prima ballerina from Paris) the whole story and showed him the dog, which still reflected so much happiness and appeared most friendly. I asked him what he thought I should do with the dog, as I still believe the dog could not just be a stray dog as she appeared to be well trained and behaved.

Considering that Jacques had contact with the police and gendarmes when he was in charge at SBM, he promised to call around with his contacts among the gendarmes and local police; perhaps some vet also knew the dog. However, he could do nothing now since it was early evening.

At the time, he did not tell me that he had seen this dog for weeks running around wild up in the forest, unapproachable and showing its teeth. All this about the dog being wild I was told much later on, and I am not sure that this could have been the same dog; nevertheless, my neighbour insisted that this was the case.

For now, I took the dog to my soulmate and partner in life, Romana, awaiting her disapproval, even having the dog for the night or a day; Romana was certainly not keen on having the dog. After a little discussion and persuasion, I succeed to have the dog stay – at least until we found out more about her the next day.

The dog, which we immediately named Amey (several different spelling, Arme, Ami, Amy), after a friend’s dog in Poland, seems very happy and contented staying close to the house and following us around. For some unknown reason, she responded to every command, sit!!, she sat, lay down!! She lay down, all to our surprise and amassment since we spoke to her in English.

We had our friends talking to her in Italian and French, and she still responded to all their commands, like she understood all languages. I just had to think what I wanted her to do, and she “read” my thoughts straight away, behaving most impeccable and respectful, still showing her happiness with a smile on her face (yes!! dogs can smile and show their happiness in their eyes and mouth). 

We placed her for the night in a room where we had our central heating system next to the main entrance to our house and kept the door open. The following day she appeared very happy and stayed close to the Villa, going around the garden. I had not heard anything from my neighbour as to him speaking to the police and the gendarmes in the area but decided to take the dog to a vet to check her health conditions. Before I went to the vet, I briefly spoke to Jacques, who told me that none of the police stations and the gendarmes in the area had heard of a missing Alsatian dog.

The vet found Amey to be around one year old, according to her teeth, possibly less, she had no electronic tack nor any identity marks, so there was no way to see from where she came. She was in general in good health and appeared very happy and contented. I asked explicitly about Amey’s vertebrae since it seemed that she had a problem with her lower back; we had seen this when she came to us. The vet said there was nothing wrong, and I did not insist on an x-ray. I agreed with the vet that I would come the next day if we did not hear anything from her owner; the purpose was to put an electronic device in Amey’s neck and possibly have her female reproductive organ removed. Romana and my neighbour recommended that this should be done; I later regretted this bitterly as I would have loved the babies. Amey was such a special dog and the most intelligent.

The day that Amey came into our lives was exactly one year after we had moved into our Villa on the 22nd of  March 2002, which seemed an odd co-incident, specifically when we look at what later happened. I did at the time tell Romana that this could be a signal of some kind, and perhaps it was a good omen; it turned out to be a miracle. We later, through the years, celebrated Amey’s birthday on the 22 March as she indeed came with a miracle, allowing Romana to live for another 6 years.

Amey’s First Days with us

Since we had no news of Amey being registered lost, I went ahead the next day with the visit to the vet, where she operated on Amey, putting an electronic tag into her neck and removing her ovary. The vet told me that she was a very good dog and somehow knew that all this was for her own best. She also gave her various vaccinations, which needed to be done on an annual basis. Bringing her home, I found her in good spirits; despite the fact that she had been under general anaesthetic, she appeared happy.

Romana had spoken to the workmen at our Villa and instructed them to build a dog house for Amey right away. The workmen delivered the dog house the next day, working still on the roof. Amey looked a little sceptical about this new home, and she never did appear very happy with her new house, even though we had given her a sheepskin rug to lie on. Since Amey did not like the “Dog House” from the start, we used to send her to the dog house, when she had been doing something against our wish (which she, as a matter of fact, did very rarely) but mentioned the Dog House to Amey, she immediately becomes upset and looked very sad. Obviously, the Dog House was only used for some 6 months before she would never enter the place again.

Amey’s Dog House

Considering that Amey appeared aggressive and very protective towards visitors coming to the Villa, we felt that we had to put her in a chain from time to time, mainly when any tradespeople delivered goods to the Villa. On one occasion, Amey attached a delivery man of wines and bit him slightly in his bum; this all meant that we had to be very careful with her. Nevertheless, most of the days, she walked around in the garden and showed her happiness, always ready to have her long chain fasten if visitors came.

Amey was not hostile to most friends visiting the Villa, only a few, specifically when they were leaving and saying goodbye. She generally had no problems with the two workmen who worked at the Villa; however, when any new person came, we were forced to chain her.

Cats and Wild Boars 

During the first week, Amey was with us; she showed aggression towards cats; this was not good because our neighbours Jacques and Josette love wild cats, which they daily fed. They belonged to a society that tried to control the population of wild cats by taking away their productive organs.

One day Amey came walking with a dead cat in her mouth; she walked straight up to me very proud and let the dead cat fall at my feet like she was delivering prey I had just shot. I showed my distaste immediately for her action by hitting her and shouting at her that she had been very BAD. When I hit her with my hands, it was an instant reaction that I later regretted. One should never hit a dog with the hands, using a newspaper or something else, but never our hands. However, at the time, I really felt most upset to see her with a dead cat which Amey obviously had killed.

What appeared to be strange was that Amey did not appear to ever have been hit because she just stood there and took my hit. Afterwards, she just walked away happy as usual as if nothing had happened – I felt terrible.

The next day, Amey came again with a young dead cat in her mouth; like nothing, she did not appear to be concerned when she dropped the cat at my feet. However, when I lifted my hand to hit her, a stupid spontaneous reaction from me, she started crying like a child, so I stopped immediately, but still shouting at her that she had been bad and that she must NOT kill cats. I was most concerned that my neighbour would find out about the dead cats, but they had not noticed since they had so many coming to their property.

A few days later, to my horror, Amey came again with a dead cat in her mouth and, as usually delivered, the dead cat at my feet. Despite shouting at her and lifting my hand to hit her, I could not let myself hit her, as she again cried out like a little child when I just raised my hands to hit her. After this, I was not presented with dead cats, but Amey continued great hostility towards cats, which she did see every day through our gate. With time Amey did become less aggressive towards cats, and just a short time before she died, I even witnessed that an older cat could be in the same room with her.

Since I considered that all dogs could be taught to live next to cats without aggression, I asked our vet to get me a kitten. He told me immediately that it would not be possible for us to have a cat since Amey could by nature not help herself; in short, she would always kill the cat, never mind what we told her. I did try many times to tell her of a “no chasing cats” rule, but since she had already experienced a few cat-chasing thrills, it never really worked.

The wild boars were other creatures that came into our lives; Amey always showed them considerable aggression in her special way. Up to the time that Amey came to us, I was most intrigued with the wild boas living so close to civilisation and, in our case, at the end of our garden and at times being far into our garden. In fact, at times, the wild boars showed that they dared to come all the way up to our swimming pool, which contained freshwater (slightly salted, but possible to drink).

Romana found herself one early evening surrounded by a large wild boar (possible a female still bigger than Amey ) with seven-eight piglets close to our Villa; they had certainly just come close to her standing near a fruit tree. We did not have Amey then, and when Romana discovered the danger she just took off and run. All the wild boars did the same, going in all directions. I observed everything from the side of our swimming pool, at the same time shouting my lungs out, fearing the worst.

The wild boars regularly created havoc on the garden and the flowers, even the palm roots, destroying my newly planted bushes and flowerbeds. So Amey just came into our lives in time to save the garden and protect us from the wild boars.

It is a known fact that wild boars are really not afraid of dogs; they often kill dogs when they are corned in hunts and when dogs come close to a female boar with offspring. During the annual hunts on the wild boars, I have seen dogs killed. Even Alsatians are no match for a grown wild boar as they can tear her apart with their large tusks; a friend of ours told us that he had two large Golden Retrievers killed by wild boars.

Amey did know that she was no match for them; however, she could try to scare them away from time to time with her loud barking. Many times at night, Amey woke us with her barking, sensing that she wanted to chase the wild boars which had come close to the Villa. Amey’s technique was to run forward and bark at the boars, always making sure she had an escape route, moving forward and at the same time going backwards barking loudly.

Note 1.

According to Wikipedia: Adult boars average 120–180 cm in length and have a shoulder height of 90 cm.[6] As a whole, their average weight is 50–90 kg kilograms (110–200 pounds), though boars show a great deal of weight variation within their geographical ranges. In central Italy, their weight usually ranges from 80 to 100 kg; boars shot in Tuscany have been recorded to weigh 150 kg (331 lb). A French specimen shot in Negremont forest in Ardenne in 1999 weighed 227 kg (550 lb). Carpathian boars have been recorded to reach weights of 200 kg (441 lb), while Romanian and Russian boars can reach weights of 300 kg (661 lb).

The continuously growing tusks serve as weapons and tools. The lower tusks of an adult male measure about 20 cm (7.9 in) (from which seldom more than 10 cm (3.9 in) protrude out of the mouth), in exceptional cases even 30 cm (12 in). The upper tusks are bent upwards in males and are regularly ground against the lower ones to produce sharp edges. In females, they are smaller, and the upper tusks are only slightly bent upwards in older individuals.

 

 

The last picture of Amey was taken in Tuscany in March 2009

Amey saved My dear Romana’s life

One afternoon in mid-May (6-7 weeks after Amey came to us), Romana came to me telling me that Amey had pushed her down the stone steps alongside the Villa. Since we had a wet lunch, I did not take her so seriously when she told me that Amey had deliberately pushed her down the stairs, and the fall could have killed her, which it certainly could. She fell over 11 steps down, hitting herself on the leg. Romana even said that the dog does not like her and could be a reincarnation of “your Mother”, so someone who does not like me”. My dear Mother would have loved Romana. When I asked Romana if she was hurt, she said she bruised her lower leg just below the knee. I could think of no one who did not like My Romana, and certainly, my mother would have loved her.

A few days later, Romana complained about the bruised leg and showed a small blue mark. I told her to have an x-ray to see if anything had been seriously damaged on her leg; after all, there was a small lump showing.

A few weeks went by, busy with guests and lots of lunches and dinners. One morning Romana showed me her bruise and the little lump, and I insisted that she should go to a doctor; however, we did not have a doctor in the South of France; our doctor was in London.

One day Romana runs into a friend Angela in our local village; Angela had recently become a widow; when generally speaking about things, Angela told Romana that we had just a new doctor in La Turbie. Angela introduced Romana to doctor Philippe Scemama, who became a very important person for Romana and me.

Romana went for an appointment with the doctor, who examed her, as a routine having a new patient. In going through various questions as to Romana’s health, he asked Romana if she felt well. Romana told him, yes, but she felt a little tired from time to time. Considering her age and the fact that there was no indication of any illness, the doctor said it could be Romana’s thyroid gland.

Scemama later admitted that he had no special knowledge of this small, butterfly-shaped structure that sits low in the neck below Adam’s apple. Although this gland weighs less than an ounce, the thyroid exerts a powerful influence throughout the body. Scemama asked Romana to undergo a series of examinations by various specialists.

During the following weeks and months, Romana went to many experts at the hospital in Nice, in Monaco, and had many professors with expertise in all aspects of the thyroids. They found nothing wrong with Romana. Every time she went to doctor Scemama, he told her to have another test. Romana had a regular blood test showing nothing wrong. In August 2002, Romana was cleared healthy with nothing on her thyroid. As I was abroad, my son, Mogens, collected her and they had a great celebration lunch in the best restaurant in Nice.

I needed to send all the various bills from Romana’s examination to our insurance company, in view I asked Romana in October if she had finished everything. She said no, Scemama still want me to take another blood test, and it is in Monaco, where it is difficult to park. As I wanted all this to end, I told her that I would drive the next day to Monaco and wait for her to take the blood test.

A few days later, Scemama telephoned and asked Romana to come and see him. He told her that there was some indication of cancer; however, it was very little, so she needed more examination at the Nice hospital to establish what was happening.

After this examination, the professor at the hospital, who had operated on more than 3500 women with thyroid cancer, confirmed that Romana had a very special cancer, which less than 400 women have worldwide every year. What he did not tell her and me, was that they all die, as one could not discover this rare cancer before it was too late and it had spread in the body.

Romana’s doctor was in London, Ann Coxen,  a girlfriend with a practice in Harley Street, a famous doctor with some of the most wealthy people in the world as clients (Sultan of Brunie, The Emir of Qatar and the King of Saudi Arabia, among others).  Romana wanted to go to London, and we called Ann Coxen, who wanted Romana on the next flight. I spoke to Ann and told her that Romana had gone through so many expert examinations and should call them first. Naturally, Ann negated the expertise in the South of France and told me that London has the best experts in the world.

I told Ann that the professor here wanted to operate as soon as possible. Ann Coxen telephoned the next day and told Romana and me that Romana could not have been better served in London than what had happened to her, and if she came to London, it would take 3-4 weeks to undergo all the tests and receive advice. Therefore, we concluded that Romana should immediately go to the hospital and have the operation right away.

This decision saved Romana, as it turned out that the tumour was so small that the professor had never been able to catch cancer so early in any woman. Usually, the tumour grows so fast, and in one month, it reaches 9-10 millimetres; that is when they first see cancer. In Romana’s case, the tumour was six millimetres and taken just in time.

If Romana had gone to London for the operation, it would have taken several weeks with various examinations and preparations, all causing that it would have been too late as the tumour would have grown larger and, therefore, death was unavoidable.

This was the first time in Europe that they had been able to find and take away such a tumour before it had done any major damage, as all patients normally would die. Therefore, the French state-funded research into Romana’s family health.

If Amey had not pushed Romana down the stair in May 2002, she would not have been alive beyond January-February 2003. So Amey saved Romana!!

The doctor Scemama later becomes a friend of ours. 

When Romana was in her final month, dying in March 2008, Amey jumped up in bed and was lying on top of Romana, with her legs straight out, covering Romana’s “little” body. Amey was never allowed upstairs, never in the bedroom, and certainly not in the bed. Despite this, Amey many times disobeyed, and I found her lying on top of Romana or next to her sleeping in bed. 

September 2009 – five months after Romana’s death

It is difficult to understand, I was driving on the AutoRoute just below our Villa, according to the map around 500 meters away from the Villa, below a rockfall of 100 meters, there is a tunnel, which is 1100 meters long-named La Arme or L’Arme, I am not sure what this means, but sometimes French people used to spell Amey name like that. After this, I looked at a detailed map of the area where I found Amey; what did I discover, that the hill (part of the mountain Mont Agel) was named Col de la Arme. When Romana and I named her, we took a name from a dog, also Alsation, which we liked very much and had known for years; however, the spelling of the name was different to our Amey. 

She used to jump in when someone got into the pool, mostly jumping on top of them or close by; this was extremely dangerous, so we had to stop her from doing it. She appeared concerned about us drowning, showing signs of distress when someone was swimming under the water. Amey jumping into the pool did result in a few scars on my body. Her favourite play was for someone to take her ball away from her, holding her head slowly into the water. 

Her ability in the first years to find even small stones at night in the darkness down the hill up to 100 meters away lay among tens of thousands of other stones. 

When it was thunder, she came up to the first floor, where she was not allowed; nevertheless, she would open the door and stand there like something terrible was happening. As to coming upstairs to our bedrooms, this only happened a few times when she wanted to go out, or feeling ill or in need of doing her big jobs. 

She would always hide when she did big jobs or just pee, normally behind bushes, even later walking in parks or forests, she did not want anyone to see her doing her toilets.

Our travels, how she behaved in the car and around in hotels and restaurants. After Romana’s death, when I stayed in good hotels, even the best five-star hotels, Amey behaved so well that people constantly came up to me. She would lie under the table in the restaurant absolutely quiet. I did receive so many compliments about her behaviour and how well-trained she was. 

How she behaved when I went away after Romana’s death, not leaving our main bedroom for nearly three days and night, not eating and not going to pee 

Her last days and behaviour 

Her brave fight to the last, losing her senses but never her dignity. 

After I met Hanna, Amey started not eating her favourite food; I bought filet steak and lamb chunks. Despite this, she did not eat everything, and even when I told her to eat, she reluctantly obeyed, looking at me. I started believing that she was jealous of Hanna and that this was why she had stopped eating. However, this went on for months, so when we came back to the South of France, I took her to my vet, Polish, and a friend. 

The vet said that she might be jealous; he could not explain, and she looked OK. 

When Amey had peed or done big jobs through the years, she always went behind a bush and always in nature on grass. She would never show she peed or did anything, a real lady. During these weeks and months, she had done pee on pavement and even twice big jobs from time to time. Most embarrassed about it when I scolded her, she would look with sad eyes. Again, I considered she was protesting and did not like Hanna or was simply jealous. 

Since we stayed in the Nice apartment and ate out every day and night, Amey walked freely around after us, always behaving well, not ever up to anything. One night, she was behind in the park, and we walked on to the restaurant. Some people had seen her and come to us with her; it appeared she did not know where we were. 

We later learned that she could not smell, and her eyes sight had also been reduced. We humans always find it challenging to understand animals’ pain and what they have to cope with, as they can only speak with their eyes and body language. However, Amey could look deep into my soul, and I felt at times her pain, still not believing it was something serious. 

I ordered a filet steak (as usual) for Amey in the restaurant, which she reluctantly forced into herself; little did I know that she later threw up everything she had eaten on our way back. Hanna told me that she had seen this and thought it was highly unusual. 

I could feel somehow that she needed an examination, as this must be more than jealousy. So I took her back to the vet, again who told me that he could not find anything wrong with Amey. However, he told me to come the next day, as he would conduct some tests and scan her stomach under sedation.  The next day we took Amey to the vet; I still recall her standing in the vet’s office looking at me; I assured her that everything would be fine and that I would be back some hours later. I was giving her my love and assurance. Little did I know that this would be the last time I ever saw her – on this journey.

Hanna and I were having lunch at a famous restaurant, at Coco Beach, outside Nice, a favourite place for Prince Rainier, when he was alive. It was a Wednesday and at 1 o’clock, I received a call from the vet; I still recall every word. He told me that when he opened Amey’s stomach, he found a tumour (cancer) bigger than a tennis ball blocking her small intestines and therefore, she could not eat. He told me that she still was under anaesthetic and out. He also told me that he could “stitch” her up, and she could live another 3-4 weeks but in great pain. Considering she did not feel anything, and I did not want her to suffer any further, I asked him to give her a final injection, so she would sleep in and leave this life. This was my Amey’s death, such a beautiful and good dog and companion. No doubt she gave my soulmate Romana another five years of life and happiness.

Amey was sent to me?

The most important story about Amey, which, at the time, I found rather shocking, even telling this to others, as most people could not take it in.

When Romana, became ill with brain tumours, she monthly went to a Paracelsus Clinic near St. Gallen in Switzerland. On our second visit there, Romana had to have treatment for two weeks, so we decided to take Amey with us, as I could spend the day with Amey when Romana had treatments. The clinic does not have facilities for patients staying there, so we stayed in a lovely hotel in Appenzell, housed out to the large square, famous for the regular voting by the people of this little Canton.

I would daily drive Romana to the clinic, sometimes, coming back and having lunch with her, but always collecting her after the day’s treatments. During the day I would take long walks with Amey in the beautiful nature around, including walking in the big hills and forests.

One day, I came a little early to collect Romana. I parked a little away from the clinic in a car park and told Amey to go into the big fields surrounding the clinic. She happy disappeared out of site, as I could not see her.

At the top of the car park was a large bench which I sat down on. Sitting there after ten minutes, I saw an Asian-Tibet looking man come walking from the clinic buildings. He walked up to the large bench I sat on and sat down at the other end, away from me.

After five minutes, he speaks, not looking at me, but straight out, like a blind man, and says: “This dog out there, she was sent to you” he spoke with authority – not if, pointing his left hand in the direction of the field where Amey was walking. He spoke in English and had no way to know I spoke English, as it was a German-speaking area. Moreover, he could not have seen Amey, as she was far away in high grass. I reacted with some surprise, to say the least, frankly, I had goose pimples. How could he possibly know Amey – no way and he could not have seen me with the dog, as Amey had never been at the clinic, moreover he spoke with such conviction.

So, I said to him that we always considered Amey as sent to us, as Amey gave my soulmate her last five years and saved her from rare thyroid cancer, a specific rare cancer that everyone dies from. Well, he said Amey’s spirit tell him, she was sent for me!! Amey was hundreds of meters away from us – How?

I then told him the story about what happened in 2002 when Amey had come to us and about Romana’s illness then. He still insisted that Amey was sent for me. Well, it could be, as Romana had lived and given me five more years of happiness.

He told me his name Lama Tharchin Rinpoche and that he originally came from Tibet, but lives in California where he had an ashram, where he was teaching spiritual and physical exercises, such as the various forms of yoga and meditation. Every year, for the last nine years, he had come to Paracelsus Clinic for treatment of his kidney cancer. He was at the clinic the first day and was waiting for his girlfriend to collect him.

I called Amey, as Romana was coming out from the clinic, I introduced him to Romana and told her what he had told me about Amey. Considering that Romana and I always had been convinced that Amey was somehow sent to us for Romana, not me, we were both most intrigued, by his revelation, also the fact, that the dog was possibly hundreds of meters away in the field when he told me.

The next day we had lunch with him and some of the patients, he confirmed with authority that Amey was sent for me, further, said he could feel Amey’s spirit when he sat close to me.

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche sits next to me, the two ladies next to Romana, and the little girl has all left this life.

Amey came to us the 22 March 2002 and left this world on 22 April 2009 — She was 8 – 8.5 years old, having given us so much, with her unconditional love and loyalty.

Roswita von der Moritzburg

Born 19 April  2011

Rosy, Lady Rose came into our life on the 1st July 2011 when we collected her from her mother, Amy, a beautiful German Alsatian. Rosy was born on Tuesday, 19 April 2011, and we collected her in her 11th week (10 weeks and 4 days).

Hania gave me Rosy for my 70th birthday, and we found her on the Internet via the German Alsatian Society. We went to see her, and the breeder told us that only she had not been sold, so we did not have any choice. She looked different from her sisters, only with that; her left back leg had a little white part on her toes.

The breeder told us that he delivered the best Alsatian to the German police and years back to Stasi, Ministerium für Staatsicherheit (“Ministry for State Security”), secret police agency of the German Democratic Republic. The breeder lived near Potsdam, in former East Germany.

Since Rosy’s mother name is Amy, which is very unusual, we wanted to call her Amy, also thinking of Amey, that would be a bad idear. However, considering Hania’s grandmother was called Rosy, and Hanna love her grandmother very much, we thought Rosy would be a nice name. She is a very lively and very good and clever dog.

Her mother’s full name: Amy von der Moritzburg/Ost   Her father’s full name: Zamb von Uckerstrom

Microchip number:  981189900017744  – (981)

Her mother had five pups this time, and she is six years old, having already two more culls (only ones a year).

Despite being a little over a year in human terms, Rosy knows not to pee or do jobs inside the house. She is very clever and has overcome missing her mother and sisters much faster than we expected. We had purchased a large dog house in solid wood for Rosy and allocated a big area of our large penthouse terrasse for her with her own grass and flowers around. We lived in one of the largest nature reserves and forests in Europe, so Rosy could see all the birds and listen to all the sounds from the forest.

On the first day, taking her from her mother and sisters going in the car, we expected her to be a little wild and difficult since this was her first ride in a car and the first time she separated from her mother and sisters. After 2.5 hours we arrived home and all the time had been very quiet at the front, sitting in Hanna’s lap. We stopped twice, but she did not want to do anything—a little in shock. In fact, she ran under a stone table, when we made a stop on the motorway, just so scared of being without her mother.

The second day (she sleeps and goes to the toilet at 22.00, 1.00 and 5.00) She likes stone floor to sleep on, goes very little into her house, it is a warm summer, so she is not cold.

On the third day (she sleeps at 22.15 and goes to the toilet at 3.00 and 8.00 in the morning), she eats at 9.00, 13, 00 and 17, 00 taking in 170 grams each time, all measured and seen by Hanna.

Rosy does a big job four times a day. She tells us when she needs to go out; in the night, she just wakes up and really tells you what she wants. Rosy sleeps on the floor next to me in the bedroom. During the day she has been sleeping in her house for up to 4 hours without crying out. In fact, she does not cry much at all.

The fourth night: Went out at 22.30, wake me 02.30 to do a big job, and pee sleeps to 07.00, do both and sleep again to 09.30 – Rosy is today 11 weeks old. When she sits with her back on the ground, she measures approx. 49 centimetres.

Fifth night: Went to the toilet at 22.30, slept to 03.00 and woke up at 08.00. She sleeps in a plastic box which is certainly NOT keen on, but she is very good; when she wakes in the night, she looks out to see if we are sleeping, then she goes to sleep again. Very warm day sleeps a lot, and like to play with water.

The six nights: Went out at 22.15 and slept until 4.15, 6 hours very good thereafter to 9.00 very good. Did a big job all three times. Today for the first time she had a little different food. She came inside at 21.00 and behaved badly so I put her into the plastic box which she jumped out of 3-4 times, so I sent her outside to her house. Before then, she got hold of the plastic covering the cactus.

The seventh night: Went out at 22.00 thereafter to sleep until 4.00 when I took her outside to do everything, slept to 8.45. She had yoghurt with her meal and later today will have chicken. Hania has made her a lovely meal, which has also been frozen in many portions.

The day: Had a great day and went to sleep at 23.00 until 03.30 and thereafter until 8.45. Very good and did everything right. Big experience as the umbrella came down with the wind.

The Eight day: Due to a mistake, I got up with her, believing it was 4.10. She did her job and went back and slept to 8.30. Warm day and she loves the water

9th day: She came into the lounge and behaved badly after half an hour, it was raining. Then I put her outside, told her to go to her house, and she pulled down the plastic covering the cactus and caused a lot of work. The next day, she did get two smacks on her chin, when she started to behave badly. One should never hit dogs with our hands, use a newspaper.

She went out at 3.00 but did not do a big job, even after half an hour, I am sitting (half asleep) waiting for her to do her job, but no. Thereafter she slept to 8.00 when she went out and did twice big jobs and pee.

Rosy went to the vet today (12th July) for the first time with us; she is well and behaved so good as always. Last night she slept from 23.00 until 3.45 when she did her jobs. She received a dog passport.  A big experience for her and us, moreover a big bill. After this visit to the vet, we started through the years having so many visits to vets and she had considerable difficulties with allergies, costing a fortune in bills

Thursday the 14th, Rosy went with us to have her dog collar and other things; she behaved very well despite being in the car for more than 2,5 hours going to many shops. She is now very good in the car.

15th July two weeks with us: Rosy made her first dog bark, which sounded impressive. Somehow, it was like she was surprised by her own sound and bark. Two days later, she barks at the flies and insects when they get too close to her.

She goes to sleep at around 22.30, and I wake her at about 4.00 when I take her out; sometimes, I have to sit and wait up to 20-30 minutes, which makes it difficult for me to go back to sleep. But Rosy is so good and appear very clever.

Today Sunday, it started raining, and I was standing inside the apartment looking out, with the window just a little open. I told Rosy, “go to the house,” and she went out to the house. She is very clever and understands so many commands. No doubt that she now goes more into her house, and like her private space. Hania told me that Rosy went barking mad in her house playing; Rosy seemed to be fighting with something; it was just the blanket which she was trying to tear apart and barked at the same time having fun.

When she comes into the apartment, she now seems more aware of all her toys and does stay in her area not making too much mess.

On Tuesday the 19 July, it was Rosy 3 monthly birthday. So we gave her some special treats. We buy chickens and boil them, take all the bones away and use the soup to boil some pasta, which we mix into her dry dog food.

On Wednesday we went to buy some items at the garden centre, so we had to take Rosy. I put her in the trolley, where she stayed throughout, buying flowers and even some biscuits for her. When we came to the car park, Rosy wanted to jump from the trolley high up; instead, she landed on the ground on her back. We both looked and feared the worst; she screamed out in a fanny way, just holding her head out like she could not move. She obviously got a shock and really did not hurt herself because she soon got up and ran around wanting to play. We still were concerned and did consider going to the doctor, but she was OK.

Rosy now sleep from 22.00 – 5.00 in the morning, when I take her outside to do her jobs. She behaves like a little baby when I carry her out in the morning, slowly waking up. When I put her down her immediately did her pee. Thereafter, she has to lye for a moment thinking before she does her big job. I take her back to the bedroom, where she sleeps next to me on a white carpet. She sleeps within some minutes after moving a little around and sees if she can bite something. The carpet is kept white and clean, so she leaves a lot of her black hair there.

Last night, she was playing with Hania inside, certainly, she took her little ball and ran outside. When Hania looked at what happened, she was in her area, where she had a pee. She is very clever.

After every pee and a big job, we clean, so her area is very clean; however, this is not the right thing to do, so in the future, we will not show her, nor will we give her a reward for this.

She still seems to react to her own barks, like she can’t believe that she can bark. When she during the day does a big job, she cries out to tell us, so we come and give a reward.

Her right ear is still all over the place like it is not correct, but this is common among puppets apparently and should be like right when she is older.

Today (27 July), she went to the vet for the second time. She walked with a lead. Before we went to Hania’s doctor where Rosy went on the grass, eating soil/earth and grass, she seems to want to eat such also from the plants, which we do not like. She needs her last injection on Hania’s birthday on the 12th of August. Hania has been reading a lot about puppets and how to react to them. Rosy is now 14 weeks old; she is very clever and spends most of the day alone in her area. Puppets do need a lot of sleep in order to grow.

There seems to be a small problem with her back legs, which the kennels should have known. We hope to give an injection in August, which will deal with this, apparently quite often a problem on this kind of dog, never mind, we love her, so we just have to live with this.

Yesterday the 2nd of August, Rosy was 15 weeks old, so today she received a new grass carpet to walk on as she glides on the ceramic stones, she went with us to the store and sad this time in a trolley which she could not move out from. Rosy was very good as always. We purchase a large green carpet for her, and so she can walk on a suffice which is better than the stone tiles which she glides on.

Yesterday Rosy was 16 weeks, and she slept to 6.00 this morning after going into sleep at 21.40. This is very good, and she is sometimes with us when we watch television at night.

The day before, I wanted her to sleep to at least 5.30, I was awake regularly all night looking at her, and at 5.30, I felt her tongue on my hand; however, when I looked, she went back to sleep. At 5.45, she came back and licked my hand and looked like she wanted to go out so I took her.

Whereas as she used to do both jobs within minutes, she now takes longer for a big job, sometimes up to 15 minutes. She probably now knows how to hold it. She always does a big job in the area we want her to. She is just very clever.

Soon, this weekend she can go out for walks. In the following years, we had so many enjoyable walks both in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Switzerland and Madeira through all the years.

Today the 19th of April 2024, we celebrate Rosy’s thirteens birthday, (4749 days). Every day she has been the best dog anyone could wish for, always giving us a lot of love and care. Even now she is taking part in everything we do around us. We hope she will be here with us, still for a long time and enjoy her time in this life.

In celebrating Rosy’s birthday, I must give my thanks to Hanna for taking so good care of Rosy through the 13 years, always attending to Rosy, with a tiresome devotion, day and night, to see to all Rosy’s needs. My sincere Thank you, Hanna!

Maya

Hanna and I were in Porto Santo for my birthday back in 2021, staying for a week on this great island, a place Christopher Columbus walked and got married to the Governor’s daughter. I like the place with a 7-8 kilometre-long wide sand beach, and most of the time with no people.
On my birthday we were walking with Rosy in the centre of town, a man was walking with 7-8 small puppies, together with their mother. All the dogs were German Shorthaired Pointers (called GSP for short). This kind of dog was very successfully used to get rid of all the rabbits which ones infested the island.

We walked on and one of the little puppies run after us following Hanna, despite the owner’s call. Hanna suggested that she wanted to give me this puppy, for my birthday. We had been considering for some time getting a puppet, as normally it helps the older dog stay more engaged and even start playing more.

The owner’s wife was the only dentist in Porto Santo. When we arrived we saw all the seven puppies, all male, the mother and two other adult dogs, all running around together with their sons, playing around their swimming pool. We recognised the puppy, as she was black and white, and all the male was brown and white.

Well, we got her and called her Maya (the power by which the universe becomes manifest; the illusion or appearance of the phenomenal world). Goddess Maya is considered to be the mother of Buddha. According to the Hindu scriptures, Goddess Maya is known as the Mahamaya which means great Maya, or Mayadevi. In literature, the meaning of Maya is an illusion of interaction of essence and energy that gives an emotion stay something is “there”.

Maya was born on the 3rd of March 2021 and was the only bitch in the litter, which made her strong, as she had to fight her bigger brothers every day for her first two months.

The first German Shorthaired Pointers were bred in Germany in the late 1800s, by breeders who wanted an all-around hunting dog that was also a friendly companion. They couldn’t have been more successful: today, the highly-active and energetic GSP is one of the world’s most accomplished hunting and sporting breeds, and for many, a beloved family pet. That is what we got and she has been a handful since, as she is so fast with streamlined yet powerful with strong legs. Her temperament is that of an intelligent, bold, boisterous, eccentric, and characteristically affectionate dog that is cooperative. She is smart, friendly, willing, and enthusiastic, far too much for our Lady Rose. She loves the interaction with Hanna or me.

German Shorthaired Pointer was developed to be a dog suited for family life, as well as a versatile hunter.
We love Maya, and she is the best dog to wish for, but there has been lately considerable conflict between Lady Rose and Maya. The first 22 months went well together, however slowly Rosy became jealous and want to control Maya. They had several fights, some serious, where Maya put her teeth into Rosy’s skull, and indeed bit Hanna’s left hand in the fight, resulting in hospital treatment. Once we had to take Maya to the vet as Rossy had taken a bit of Maya’s front leg.

We felt that Maya had to be sprayed earlier this year, and this has changed her as she now knows her place in the rank of the family. Somehow I do regret this spray, as she has lost some of her vigor.

About Maya

The festivities of La Maya Festival in Spain.
The festival’s name is thought to originate in Greco-Roman myth. In Greek mythology Maia was one of the Pleiades, the companions of Artemis, the goddess of the fields. The Greek phenomenon became conflated with the Roman goddess Maia Majesta, symbolising fertility and spring which ultimately gave the month of May its name as it marks the height of spring and offers a strange and colourful spectacle celebrating the arrival of spring.

The festival offers a strange and colourful spectacle celebrating the arrival of spring. Every year on 2 May the families of girls aged between seven and 11 gather to decide which of them will be chosen to be that year’s “Mayas”.