[00:00:20] Speaker A: Anniversary of the loss of my dog, George.
In this episode, I I'm joined by very close friend and clinical psychologist, Talia Carter.
I'm your host, John Little. Fair, and welcome to this very special episode of never just a dog.
Savio with me. It's been way too long. It's been over two years since we last did an episode.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: I know, and it's so nice to see you. It's been ages. And so I believe it's been almost ten years since George has passed.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: When we spoke on the phone the other day and I told you it was ten years since George passed away, I actually went back and checked and recalculated. It's been 14 years. Wow, here we are, 14 years later.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Pretty much why I'm here.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Yeah, hence why you're here.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: So tell me about that journey. How you sort of moved from the sadness of that into really, I guess, shifting or evolving that grief into what it is now.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Reflecting on that period in my life, the overwhelming feeling that stands out is loneliness.
I kind of navigated through those, I guess, the months after George passed away and often found myself stumbling along, sort of unsure how to proceed.
What I realized now is that I truly needed during that time was someone to just simply converse with, someone with who I could share my thoughts and emotions openly. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, I couldn't seem to find that connection I was really yearning for, if that makes sense. Looking back, I firmly believe that having someone just to confide in and express myself would have made a significant difference in my journey. And that's why I started never just a dog for others to connect and share.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: And so it seems like there's been a shared aspect of this journey of yours in terms of your story and parts of your story.
There's a commonality to it, as well as an individual journey that I think we all go through when we lose animals.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: For sure it began with my story, but the best part is hearing others stories. And in between all of this, my goodness, we've had some laughs. But personally, for me, Talia, the last twelve months, there's been just a slight internal struggle.
Why don't I feel close to George anymore? I mean, our journey was the reason to start this. And this has made me feel slightly guilty. Weird. Hey. Or is this not weird?
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Like you mentioned before, laughter really comes in to allowing that release valve to open up a little bit. And I wonder if part of that laughter allowed you to really alleviate some of that guilt that you had been feeling in the year, I guess, up to this point with George.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: So here's a story that sorted this all for me. It came from a crazy week over.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Christmas, and so tell me what happened.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Okay, I have to talk about a week of mayhem. So it was the lead up to Christmas now, and my very, very close friends Jane and Louise were going away with their boys for Christmas.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Shout out to Jane and Louise.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Shout out to Jane and Louise. Superstars. And we've known each other for a long time through our journeys with our dogs and their journeys with their dogs. They asked if I would be willing to babysit their pets for the week, and of course I said yes. There's two cats, Meg and mog.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: And two dogs. So the dog, Angus, I've looked after before, he's three, I believe, and a little puppy called Hamish.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Okay, what breed of dogs?
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Labradors.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Oh, beautiful.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely beautiful.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Mischievous, I'm sure.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Oh, just a little bit. So I said, look, absolutely. I wasn't going away. I was pushing through with some work. So I jumped at the chance. I said to them, please leave me a detailed manual on every step, what to do, because I love details, especially looking after other people's dogs.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: That's a big responsibility.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: I've actually got the. Well, firstly, I walked into the house, and at the back shed, you could see through, like, the security door. Angus and Hamish were waiting there for me, and I don't know if it was the joy on their faces was yay. Or come in, sucker.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: You're like the relief teacher at school.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Thrown in at the deep. So I'll read you the instruction manual that Jane and Louise left for me. This is how it reads. Hi, John. Thanks again for coming to stay. I'm just going to write down things as I think of them. Bins, please put red and green bin out on Sunday night, ready for Monday morning pickup. Water. If you get a chance, please give the front plants, citrus trees and franchipannies a little water for a little while as they have no retick and dry out. Also, the two olive trees in the big pots near the front door can have a water.
The hose out the front reaches them, too. The paddling pool out the front can have the water change just needs a bit so Hamish doesn't get stuck in it. So Hamish is the puppy, but they like it to cool off dog walks, perhaps walk them separately and early, like 05:00 a.m. Or so. And.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Sorry, what would the temperature normally be around that time of year?
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Okay, so it's summer. It was getting pretty warm up to almost like high 30 degrees Celsius. So I'm not sure what that is in Fahrenheit. It was getting pretty warm so.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Perth summer.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Perth summer, yeah.
You can walk them together if they are going to bark and carry on. Hamish doesn't need a long walk. He's a little skittish and scared. Still. Angus likes double view school or Spider Man park. He can be off the lead. Just rein him in if he gets carried away playing. Sometimes Angus will run across the road at Spider man if he sees sprinklers on. He loves a good soaking under the sprinkler.
The chocolates and wine in the fridge are for you to enjoy.
Pet routine and this is when it gets decolled.
Nighttime. Take the dogs upstairs to sleep with you. Put the cats outside so they've got a secure outside yard and we'll get to what happened there. Okay, you can put the cats outside early evening. They're happy to go out even before you go to bed. Just keep the boys doors closed and keep the laundry door closed. Make sure the door to the laundry stays open and the cats might come in and sleep on the bed through the night. The plastic cat door goes up and fits into a groove. We've taped it up but it might be good to check that it hasn't fallen down before you go to bed as the cats won't go through it then. Also when you go to bed, open the laundry door so they can have free run of the house. Just keep the upstairs door closed with the dogs when you go to bed. Good idea to take Hamish down to the backyard to do a wee before he goes to bed. He might last longer through the night.
Okay.
During the night Hamish might wake up and looks like he wants to get off the bed. That usually means he needs a wi afterwards try and settle him back to sleep. He has been waking up around 04:30 a.m. So I've been doing early morning walks with him around 05:00 a.m.
Once you let the dogs out in the morning, they'll run downstairs and head straight for the cat food in the laundry. You may want to shut the door earlier if Hamish gets you up for a toilet break.
When the dogs come down, open the door and the cats will generally run up. Shut the door after them dogs.
They have just over a cup of food each feed. Angus has two. Hamish has three. Angus gets fed in the laundry, in his bowl, close the door while he eats. And Hamish on the deck on one of the plastic plates. Hamish is still having a feed in the middle of the day.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: He's a baby.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: He's a baby.
If for some reason he can't have it. Just feed him a bit more in the morning and night so his tummy is full. Or he'll be sure to tell you.
Cats, they have one packet of wet food to share and some dry food. They get fed morning and night, but we usually leave their food at night in the laundry so they can graze. We feed them upstairs in the bathroom in the morning, keep the shutters above the bath open and close the door so the dog can't get the food. Close the door to upstairs. Use the aircon on hot days. There's extra kitty litter in a box in the corner in the laundry near the cat door. If you need to top up the one upstairs to freshen it. Scoop and bags are upstairs too. During the day, the dogs will be chilled and like to sleep and hang out. Hamish will no doubt want to sleep in the laundry. On the tiles, please watch. Hamish doesn't chew or eat anything as you will find stuff. If it is laying around, watch your shoes.
Sometimes Hamish just whimpers before he settles to sleep. That's normal. Bit like a baby. Still.
Fish.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: The fish are the lowest maintenance of all. And this was true.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: They just get fed the flakes and treat food twice a day, morning and night. Just space it out by a couple of minutes to let them eat. So easy.
Fish food is in the drawer, but low the tank. Just make sure the food goes back in the drawer of the dog or the dogs will sniff it out. The tank has been clean yesterday, so all will be good for the next week. The fish tank temperature should sit between 26 to 29 degrees. The tank temp is the bottom number on the thermometer. That's the one to watch. If it's hot, leave the heater switch off black one on wall socket, but if it cools off on an evening, may need to switch it on for the night, then turn it off. It will be mainly off.
Ideally, the tank shouldn't get in the 30s, so you can use the fan in the spare room to cool it if you have really hot weather, but it should be okay when you go out, just make sure the dogs have water, usually back in front. Hamish tends to splash it out of the bowl. Open the upstairs door so the cats can have free rein of the house and shut the cat door with a plastic cover so Hamish doesn't come in.
If the dogs are ever being annoying, take down some food and give them a scatter, feed around the garden. Use either biscuits. We try to minimise barking, especially in the morning, to keep the neighbors happy. A good distraction in the morning for Hamish is the blue Kong. Put a biscuit inside or the green kong. I put some peanut butter in the ridges for him to lick out, and that kept him busy for a while. Best to do on the deck. Angus likes playing with the blue Kong, too. If they overdo the wrestling, just break them up. They get carried away every now and then.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: This is fascinating. So detailed. So how many a four pages is that typed?
[00:12:01] Speaker A: This is four full. A four pages typed. That was my manual. I mean, from that. What could possibly go wrong?
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Hey, what could possibly go wrong?
But it's amazing to break it down like that in terms of how coordinated things have to be for animal ownership, really. Owners do it so naturally without even really thinking about the routines and what you go through and then to see it written down.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I was about to try and put that into action.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: And so how did it go?
[00:12:34] Speaker A: Well, first night was great. Everything went like clockwork. I had a couple of really close friends come over for Christmas drinks and some food, and they loved playing with the pups and.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: The cats are still upstairs. And it was all good. And then night two didn't go so good.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: All the best laid plans, right?
[00:12:54] Speaker A: I put the cats out, and I was still downstairs. I was doing some emails and really hanging out with the dog. So that was fun. I thought I'd check on the cats because they're in the outside like a.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Is it like a cat run?
[00:13:07] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. It's a massive outdoor cat run. They went missing.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Oh, no. What do you mean they went missing?
[00:13:14] Speaker A: I couldn't find them.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: And this is night two.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: This is night two. So this is probably. I would have put them out about, let's say, 07:00 p.m. And then by the time I did my emails and finish up a little bit of work and played with the dogs inside, I thought, I'll check on the cats, and couldn't find them anywhere.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: How did you feel when you couldn't find the cats?
[00:13:37] Speaker A: I felt terrible.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: That heart sinking feeling, you know that.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Saying, not on my watch.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: So I text Jane. I know it would have been late. They were on the east coast of Australia. And then she rang me back and said, don't worry too much and have another look and give me a call back in half an hour. Went out, nowhere to be seen. And people have said, oh, cats are really good hiders.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: Yeah, they can be.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: And I'm a very good searcher.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And they still eluded you.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: And they still eluded me. So I went back out, couldn't find them. And then I spoke to Jane again and said, look, I think they've disappeared. They've run off. They've got out somehow. So she said, maybe go to the next door neighbors. So I started knocking on the doors and they said, we'll keep an eye out for them. There was a couple of phone numbers on the manual.
So I started ringing them and they said, cats are good hiders. Don't worry about too much. But I was just in panic mode by now.
So I started walking down the back laneway with my torch.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Your phone torch.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Phone torch. And calling for them. You could see a couple of lights in these houses. Come on. Going, who's this guy asking for Meg and Mog in the way?
[00:14:49] Speaker B: And what sort of cats?
[00:14:50] Speaker A: One's a black fluffy. That's Mog, the black fluffy one. I'm not really good with cats.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: They're hard to see at time, too.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Oh, very hard to see. Then cats can definitely see better at night.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: It's now midnight. Jane had texted me back saying, don't worry, they'll come back. I was still really worried.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: And I'd left the door open to the upstairs bedroom where they slept during the day. I walk up and Meg sitting on the bed. Of course she is sitting, like, laying.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Just like, what are you worried about?
[00:15:22] Speaker A: I know. Stuck her head up, like, yeah.
Do you need something?
Okay. So I closed the door and thought, right, let's chill for an hour or two. Drinking coffee.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: So you still couldn't find Mog?
[00:15:34] Speaker A: I couldn't find Mog, yeah. So the time clicks over. 04:00 a.m., oh, no. And I thought, right, time to do another sweep through. I walk out the front door and Mog is just sitting there looking at me. The next second, Angus, the three year old black Labrador, comes running out barking. Mog runs off.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Oh, no. You were so close.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: I was so close. And I thought, okay, she's here somewhere. But I couldn't sleep.
It's now 07:00 a.m. You've had zero sleep. I've had zero sleep. And I thought, I've got to get this day started. And I'll just.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: And Hamish to the toilet.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Not even getting into the dogs yet. They are up, ready for their walk, and I'm trying to balance slightly the missing cat saga.
So I thought, right, I'll have a shower. And then I'll take the dogs for a walk. And when I walked up. So this is 07:00 a.m. The door to the bedroom where Meg was was open. Sometimes you close it, but you've got to really pull it. And then it latches shut. I thought, oh, no, Meg's going to be missing again. I walk in quietly, both cats laying on the bed, asleep.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Oh, no way.
Oh, the relief must have been incredible.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: The relief. And I phoned. Jane had already text, and I said, look, I'm just still looking for Mog. And then it was the best phone call. I rang Jane and said, all president accounted for.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: What was that like for you?
[00:17:03] Speaker A: That was like, oh, my goodness. Well done, John.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Day two.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: Day two.
Day two cats missing, dogs barking and whatever. So I didn't let them out for the rest of the week. They stayed there, of course. They had all the luxuries. A couple of days are really warm. Left the aircon on. They were happy and they were in their own world. So, cat sorted.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Safe dog time.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Okay.
I feel like this is going to be interesting.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: That's one word.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Okay, tell me.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: Okay. So I walked Angus. All good. He's a really strong boy, too. He pulls a little bit, but he's good. We had a good time because there's no way I was going to walk them together if one of them snapped the lead or whatever. I already had a 24 hours of sheer panic.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: I was going to cover all bases here. I took Angus. Sorry. I took Hamish up to the local corner dairy cafe and everyone was swooning over him. I was so tired. Oh, he's so cute.
So that was good. And then back, and then I got my day started and then got them fed and then went about my day, went about my work. So the next dramas were pretty much about to start.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Okay, so this was the calm before the storm.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: This was the calm before the storm. It was probably happening already. I just didn't notice. I was hyper focused on retrieve the cats. Retrieve the cats. So, Angus, I've looked after before, and he's a real chilled boy now. He's still boisterous, but he's so calm and chilled and definitely from what I remember him from when I looked after, when he was still a big puppy. Now he was a three year old chilled puppy.
Hamish. Cute, beautiful, and the most naughtiest being I've ever been around.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: High energy.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Yes, high energy.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: So what did he do that was so challenging?
[00:19:10] Speaker A: Well, I hadn't really looked after a puppy Labrador before. When George was two when we adopted him, and Monty was three or four. And the last puppy that we had was way back in the farm days with Shandy, a little golden Labrador. But I believe now, Mum did most of the heavy lifting there because we were kids. We're just there, play, play, go to school, do our thing.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: Yeah, you're there for the fun stuff.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Okay, Hamish, where do I start?
It kind of started with him, with the feeding ritual. So Hamish would have his on the balcony, his food. Angus would have it in the laundry. So I poured Hamish's food out and went into. I said, come on, Angus, come on in. Poured his food in the cups into the bowl.
Within seconds, Hamish ran under my feet and gobbled all of his food.
I thought, how could you possibly have finished yours and been back there? And then I looked at his bowl going, it's all finished. He smashed that down.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: He just inhaled it.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: So this is pretty much every day I'd be on my laptop checking emails and editing, and he would stand there and just bark at me. He'd start with one. Just look at me and go, hey, budy, how are you doing?
I'd go, okay, man, that's enough.
Just intermittent everything. And then he'd start this barking at me, just progressively, getting progressively getting worse. I was going, man, just chill out.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Oh, hence the instruction. He will tell you.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Hence the instruction. He'll let me know. But it's like, man, you've just had your food and you've just had your brother's food and now you want more. No, you're going to be chubby. I've made some toast up. Normally eat toast. I place it on the kitchen table and think, that, right, he can't reach this. There's no way. Turn around to make coffee. By the time I'd turned back, he was on the chair and encroaching towards the toast. He'd worked out, floor, chair, table.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: I do have a photo of it, too. It's like, oh, my goodness.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Did you save the toast?
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. He didn't quite get there, but he was close. He was very close. He was right there.
So this was just constantly strategizing the house to going, right. If I put that there and this here, can he get onto that and get there and move there? So it was like looking after a child.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: That wanted toddler, a toddler. There was one morning I was sitting in the kitchen table. I was kind of really into this construct of an email or whatever I was doing, and I could kind of hear this noise and didn't think about it. I might have had my headphones on. And then after about, say, a minute, I thought, what is that noise? I took the headphones off, looked up, and the door to the laundry had cracked open slightly.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: And exactly, I went, oh, my goodness. I walk in, the first thing I see is two Labrador legs, a Labrador tail and a Labrador butt staring straight at me. He'd popped the top off the biscuit barrel and was headfirst. Bum out. Munching, munching like a trough. Munching like a feeder.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: It's funny, during, during the week, there was all these moments. So as much as I was just horrified, I couldn't wait to tell someone about it. And as the week went on, I was getting texts going, update, next story, update. What's happening? Quick email. What's happening? What's happening? Oh, you wouldn't believe what he did. I'd filled top the water bowls up. He'd knock them over, top them up, knock them over, top them up, knock them over. Then they'd wrestle and bark and I'd have to separate them. And then Angus, who's a bigger dog, would get a bit boisterous with him. Not in a vicious way, they'd just have. And you'd hear this yelp from Hamish and go, right, that's enough. Like me being big dad, that's enough, too. Like they're listening to me. Next thing, Hamish is not straight back into it. He's fearless.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: He's faking.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: It's like in the boxing ring when the ref. Not. No grappling is. They separate and then you box on. It was kind of like that.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: It sounds like you had a great week, though, too.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: There's a couple of other stories on the instruction sheet. It was about 04:35 a.m. Wake ups.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: 03:00 a.m. Wake up.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: One morning I slept downstairs because I thought, I'm going to leave the cats up there. I'm going to sleep downstairs. And I was asleep and I could feel this, something in my ear and then it was a tongue and I thought I was dreaming. And not to get risque about anything, but I wake up and that's Hamish's nose and tongue in my ear, like going, wake up, wake up. Like the alarm clock.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: And this was every morning at 03:00. 03:00 I would never be a dog trainer. I'm not harsh enough. It was just, okay, we're up now. What time did I finish work last night? Midnight. That's okay. 3 hours sleep.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: I'll just have an extra coffee.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Today I was having extra ten coffee.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: Before leaving the house.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: And so what were they like to sleep with, the two of them, the.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: 2 hours or 3 hours a night of sleep? They were on the bed with me and they just passed out.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: But when I fell asleep, I was in such deep sleep, they could have been drawing pictures on my face and I wouldn't have felt it unless they put their tongue in my ear.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Yeah, sure.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: It was probably getting close to the end of my stay, and I'm making Coffee in the kitchen, and Hamish walks in, and he's standing, looking at me, and he's looking straight into my eyes, and I'm looking straight into his eyes. And there was just this Soulful Exchange, this moment of looking deep into each other's souls. And everything went so still.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Oh, beautiful.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: And then he pissed on the floor right in front of me. Walked off.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: I was going to say, you had this beautiful moment where you see each other and he saw you, and then he weed on the floor.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: That's what we call a power stroke.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: Oh, for sure.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: And at the time the mop came out, it was so beautiful and disgusting and then hilarious.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: It was like the full package.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's it.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: So many beautiful stories from that one week.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: It was incredible. So it was boxing Day, and I acted like I was going out to work. I went home.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Okay. Just for a break.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Came home. I came here for a break. And I fully empathize with not only people that are bringing up puppies, especially labradors, but all puppies, but people that are bringing up children.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: What about children and puppies?
[00:26:20] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:26:22] Speaker B: I think they deserve a medal.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: They deserve a medal. I would love to give them a medal because I got a taste of it, but I could close the door and come home and binge watch Netflix and sit there.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: You need, like, a recovery period.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: It was a recovery period. And I don't even know what I watched on Netflix, but I was coffee, coffee, water, food. I could have a plate of food.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: That I could put down and not have to worry.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: And not have to worry. Even then, I was on edge going, am I going to kick it over? Are they going to stalk me? Have they caught Uber to come down and go, no, you're not getting away. It was so tiring, but so wonderful. It was a couple of days after Jane and Louise had got back, I messaged Jane, said, hey, look, I'll pop over after 07:00. And I'll drop the key off and say g'day, and say hello to the animals.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: To the rat bags.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: To the rat bags. That's a great term, the rat bags. And she said, cool, I'll leave the gate open for you and I'll leave the front door. Just come in. We'll either be upstairs or out the back, I should say. So the dogs hear me come in the gate, they come running out, wondering who it is. First there's a bark because they didn't know who it was. Then they realize who it was. They both came up. Angus first, he's a bit faster than Hamish. Slams straight into me with joy. And then Hamish runs up, takes a flying leap out of excitement, straight into my.
Yay, the sucker is back. Come on. I'm going to bark. I'm going to get my way.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: So the front door is open and I walk in, and the first thing I see is a toilet roll screwing across the lounge. And I'm laughing, ah, someone's not reading the instruction manual that they wrote. And I walk in, I say, hey, Jane. Hey, Louise. I didn't get an answer. And then I look over the laundry, doors open and go, no, you got to make sure that suckers closed.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: I've learned from experience.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: And then there was no answer. I thought, oh. So I actually rang Jane and she was upstairs and came down and gave the key and had had a coffee. And I tried to explain about the week. She said, but said, I hope it wasn't too hard for you. I said there was moments, but I'm glad the cats were back. So we had a fat time just laughing about it.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I bet you did. It's always funny in hindsight, too.
[00:28:54] Speaker A: It's definitely funny in hindsight. Even the days of coming home, if I've been out or working or whatever, coming back, going, okay, like stealing myself for round two and just seeing them at the gate, which was beautiful. They're like, yeah, I want to get to him first.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Human, it was.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: Human. Sucker. Human, Uncle John.
Not our real parents. The standing, so we can push the limit.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: You're not my real mum.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Yeah, you're not my real mum.
You can tell me off or whatever.
I'm just going to keep barking and I know you're going to cave in. Sucker.
The final night the dog slept, that I was there, so I'm going to backtrack a bit. The final night, the dog slept downstairs and I secured it up. Going off. Just got to get some sleep. So there was me and the cats were upstairs and thought, right, okay, that's cool. The dogs are safe. Everything's locked up. They've got their water, whatever. They can't get to the food, they can't get to the toilet rolls. And about 04:00 a.m. By this stage, the cats had become so used to me.
Zoomies.
They chased each other around the bedroom, over me, on me, like I wasn't even there, running. And then they'd leap from the couch onto the curtains and I was just at that stage going, do whatever. Just do whatever. Yeah, just whatever. I just want some peace running over me and on me, like I was just part of the furniture. Running around.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: Run around.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: I stuck my head up and they kind of looked at me and just kept on doing it anyway. So getting back to the keys, I dropped the keys off to Jane and say, louise wasn't back then, but I walked out and I actually felt a bit sad, to be honest.
And Angus came out for a bit and I gave him a hug and a pat. And Hamish followed me out and just was looking at me and I was waiting for. I was, no, there's going to be no soulful connection because I know what happened last time in the kitchen. You little bugger.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: But it wasn't that he was just looking at me, going, where are you going? And I came home and I felt sad.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Like you're part of that little pack.
[00:31:15] Speaker A: Part of the pack.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Christmas pack, the Christmas pack.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: I can't wait for them to go away again, actually, so I can go back, actually, recently, Jane showed me a photo. I haven't seen the crew now for a little bit. And I haven't seen Hamish. And he's growing. He can now stand up and put his snout into the kitchen sink.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Oh, no, no. Toast is safe.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Nothing safe. I was thinking, you better elevate that fish pond a bit, because next thing he's going to be trying to jump in there to get the fish.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Or, like, trying to get the water out of the.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: I don't want that to happen.
I'll be mitigating that.
I'll be there with my tape measure going. Right. Based on his ability in length, now, there needs to be, like, an engineer. Engineering stuff.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: Engineering up off the floor.
So you mentioned that you felt sad, like, leaving. So it seems like there was something about that chaos and, I don't know, the stress of it that you found really beneficial.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: Actually started thinking of George. Not the sadness at all, but the laughter and the journeys and all the little things that we did together and all the naughty things that he did when he was settling in because we adopted him. Because of my time with the menagerie.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: With the rat bags.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: Rat bags. Time with the rat bags is, in a sense, they brought that back to me, that memory of George that maybe I had buried it because I felt that it would been too entwined with the sadness of that. So I'd kind of maybe buried it all together and maybe not too painful.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: To go there, maybe.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: Yeah, possibly. But then I just started thinking of the journey with George. The in between journey.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:07] Speaker A: And in a sense, they uncovered that for me. How's that? Therapy? The rat bag therapy group.
[00:33:15] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. That's so beautiful, though, in terms of, I guess, the rat bags, if you like, just really allowing those memories to be free for. So I think this experience, I guess, just unlocked those memories and allowed you to lean into the good times as well. Because like you said, that really makes up the whole story of George. And by just focusing on the grief, you're really denying yourself the joy and love and happiness that comes with a really long period of your lives together.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: It was the fun of that week.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: And the chaos and the chaos and the play. The lack of seriousness on their behalf, apart from Angus is a bit more chilled.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: But they don't care. They're so present and they just respond to what's in front of them. And joy, I think, is really what sort of I'm picking up from you. It was such a joyful experience on so many levels. And yeah, it seems like that's been really healing for you.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: And it's a reminder of play. We don't play as much as we used to. No, particularly not as adults running around with a mop behind. But so stoked that it happened because, and I'm so stoked that I can talk about it. It was just a week of fantastic.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: Crazy, hilarious and love and happiness and joy and all of those really beautiful things. And like you said, that playfulness and dogs are so unapologetic in how they show up for themselves and to the world. And I think as humans, you can't be anything other than be with them in that.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: With a mop in your hands.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: With a mop in your hands, for sure.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning into this episode of never just a dog. I really hope you enjoyed it and I'd love to hear from you. You can contact me directly using my email, which is
[email protected] au I'm going to link my email address in the show notes in your podcast link app. So just scroll down and then you can find it there. And of course, remember, when you reach out via email, you're not just sending a message into this void, you're connecting with a real person on the other end, and that's me. So whether you want to share your thoughts, ask questions, or just say hi, know that I'm here to listen, engage with you personally. Your messages are more than just words, they're an opportunity for meaningful connection and dialogue. So don't hesitate to hit that send button. Your email will come straight through to me, and I can't wait to hear your stories or thoughts directly.
My name is John Little. Fair and thank you for tuning in to this episode of never just a.
