Cold winters would not deter Honcho from running into the ocean on his walks but at night time we were concerned that Sheila, not being as tough, would suffer from the cold since they were well adapted to the hot African weather but not to Tauranga’s wet cold winter with snow not too far away. One night we put on Sheila’s multi coloured, knitted doggy jersey and another similar one for Honch. Being the macho, well built staffie that he was, he sat looking at us in disgust, probably mumbling something to himself like, “What do they think I am, a pansy girl?”! A little while later Honcho seemed really content and the next morning we took it off when the weather warmed up.

That night Honcho kept badgering us, trying to draw our attention to something. It’s usually either “I want food”, “I want to walk” or “I want to go outside” but this time it was none of the above. We showed him his girlie doggy jersey and his eyes lit up. He sat still while we put it on him and he was satisfied, our dog was transformed and his feminine side had come out!

Honcho was a jovial character who entertained us no end with his interesting habits; he brought us much joy while Sheila brought us more peace! With her cancer growths enlarging and it being clear that putting her through another surgery was not in her best interests given her rough recovery and pain after previous surgery, we were at the end of the line of what conventional veterinary care could offer her.

I began to intently study other therapies to help our dog like herbal medicine, nutritional medicine, homeopathy, homotoxicology, NIS (Neurological Integration System) and many more. I spent many hours contemplating what else I could do to help her, constantly questioning myself as to whether I was doing the right thing by not putting her through more surgery. But when I looked into her eyes, having seen the pain in them in times gone by, I knew that more surgery was not an option. Sheila was one of my great teachers and I learned not only how some of these therapies could help her and so many other animals but also how sometimes life is a rough journey and sometimes all that you can do to get through is to make peace with it.

With the treatments that I used Sheila’s energy levels improved, her cancer seemed to progress more slowly and she was generally a much happier and more comfortable dog. I regularly gave her a number of remedies and I bandaged her with a special dressing to help shrink the largest growth on her abdomen. She was a good girl and always co-operated, wearing her bandages with patient surrender. I couldn’t even imagine trying to do the same with “over-the-top Honcho”.

Ash was away one morning when I woke up to change her bandage. I found that the main cancerous growth was bleeding excessively. I quickly redressed it applying pressure to help stop the bleed but Sheila collapsed and looked deeply into my eyes as if to say, “We can’t do this any more.” I knew that there was no alternative and that the kindest thing to do for our beloved little girl was to put her to sleep. I gave her an injection to first sedate her and to put her at ease while I sat with her and gently stroked her.  I then managed to raise a vein (with all her surgery, she’d always been a challenge to find a good vein) and injected her with her final injection, a long acting anaesthetic which put her into a much deeper sleep and then stopped her heart.

We were devastated and I spent some time accepting that despite my best efforts and her long and brave struggle, her cancer was too advanced for cure. This is a difficult road that we walk as animal owners which my Mom describes as the agony and ecstasy of having animals. All that we can do is embrace the joy that they can bring, give them as much quality of life as possible and when that quality wanes, make the difficult but kind decision to end their life humanely. When animals have been ill, this can also be a great weight lifted, a huge relief, and although I was sad, I knew that Sheila had given me so much and that I would use the lessons that she taught me for the rest of my life!

We were concerned about Honcho being an “only dog” but he was unperturbed by Sheila not being around and seemed to delight in having us all to himself! He also seemed to mellow out and was less aggressive with other dogs which was wonderful to experience, since we had to be so careful with him ever since Ash was told when he took Honch for puppy training years before that Honch had an attitude problem!

Many moons before I was walking with him on the beach; he was running freely collecting shells and paddling in the waves as he loved to do, when I caught sight of an old granny staffie in the distance. A tricky balancing act came up as I needed to get Honcho’s attention and get him to come to me without him identifying that I was worried that he’d see the other dog in the distance and take off after her. I called him and in true Honcho style, he took one look at me and disobediently turned around to chase the granny staffie. I sprinted down the beach chasing after him to catch our obnoxious hound ankle deep (soaking my shoes and pants in water) one metre from the tottering old granny staffie who wasn’t too rattled by the thug coming her way.

At least Honch was listening to us a bit more and he came when he was called, even when leaving the beach! Previously he’d look up disbelievingly in our direction and just carry on digging for shells or paddling in the waves and refuse to come home!

Honcho developed a few more endearing habits. He had taken to going to fetch his leash and my walking shoes when he’d decided that the time of day had come for a walk and before it was time to go to bed he would retrieve at least one of Ash’s shoes that he would take to bed with him and snuggle up to. There was definitely more happening between his ears than I had previously given him credit for!

To read more about my adventures, read Vet Tales available as a book or e-book from https://www.drliza.co.nz/shop/