Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

It's a bit depressing in places but I think enough time has passed that no one will mind if I tell it. (I feel that in cases involving these kinds of circumstances it's polite and respectful to wait until you feel it's the right time.) Be warned, it's been a long time now so I can't remember every detail, just the overall picture.

It's been about 10-11 months. We got her on the 13th of January 2011, not long before mum's birthday. I remember this because I was making paper decorations from a cool youtube tutorial. I made at least some of the decorations while watching Natsume Yuujinchou I remember this especially because I don't normally do other things while watching anime because I can't focus on that and the subtitles at the same time. I also had an idea to make a small mint flavoured cake (I hate mint but I'm normally the one who eats the most cake because mum doesn't eat cakes much (I on the other hand am a cake bottomless pit) so I figured I'd make it special for her but it had to be small because I couldn't eat it too (I really really really hate mint) I'd been planning it for a week or so). I remember all this so well because I didn't do any of it once the dog arrived.

My mother and I have a kind of mutual friend. She works in mum's office and they like to talk, mum would bring her tea or take over her desk for a while when her friend went for a cigarette break, things like that. Mum would tell me any interesting stories that her friend told her when she came home from work. I also befriended this lady when I was working there for a while. Because I didn't go out for lunch I found the office quite stifling so occasionally I would take a little break and go to see her because she was downstairs on her own and it got boring.

A while ago this friend moved to a new house and her sons (who I have never met) were worried about her being alone and thought she should get a dog. As a joke she agreed and said she'd like a Siberian husky. So, a little while later they presented her with a Siberian husky puppy. They also got another puppy for her daughter and her family (who I have also never met).

She would tell mum the funny stories about her dog and mum would tell me. We started getting little toys for the dog because she liked to destroy them. Mum had only met the dog 2-3 times and she was always very excited and friendly. I liked to hear the stories about her. I heard little to nothing about the other dog, it wasn't a concern for me.

Anyway. The lady's daughter, the owner of the other dog, was having some problems with her partner. They had two children and at some point he had no job (not sure how long for). As he didn't have a job he took primary care of the dog, walkies and such.

Anyway. They were having some relationship issues and she moved in with her mother with the children. Well. He hung himself. It's believed that it was a ploy to get her back because he called her and left some scissors nearby as if expecting to be cut down (although I can't say for sure whether this was the case or not since I wasn't there and never met him). She didn't noticed he'd called until later.

(I shrunk the text because I hoped that anyone who might object to me writing that detail might not mind it so much if I shrunk it. Not sure why. It's just that some people don't like these kind of things mentioned I guess. I'm trying to be considerate here.)

Next day she went back with the children to get some things or sort some things out I guess and they saw him. Hanging from the stairs. Well. Things needed to be sorted. Grieving done. Funeral arranged. He'd also left them with considerable financial problems in the form of debts. They didn't go back to the house. She went back now and then to feed and walk the dog. The dog kept sitting on the stairs. I've no doubt that she was grieving too.

Anyway, they asked if we could look after the dog for a while until they got things settled down. Reluctantly we agreed. (It'd been 18 years since we had a dog. I wasn't even allowed another cat until we'd tidied the house up a bit. (It's acquired some clutter over the years and the pet thing was a failed incentive to clean)). Anyway. Wanting to be helpful we looked after the dog for quite some time until I got mum to inquire about the dog's arrangements. It took longer still until we got a solid response.

The dog couldn't go back because the primary focus had to be the children and our friend's daughter couldn't work, keep up with the children and their extracurricular activities and such, deal with the aftermath of the...incident and look after the dog. As you know, the choice was either we keep her or she goes for re-homing (and there was no guarantee she'd find a nice new home right away). Also, one of the sons got the children a guinea pig each and small furry animals and huskies don't get on.

So. Those are the circumstances that landed us with an adorable pedigree dog for free.

I've been thinking of writing this up for a while but I wasn't sure if I should write about such a depressing thing at this time. In the end I decided to wait a little and then just go ahead and do it.

I'm still amazed that we've got a dog but we've had her long enough that it wouldn't feel right if we didn't have her anymore. I do love her very much. She's part of my family.