Gypsy

Gypsy was born on the farm/pottery factory where my daughter works and lives.  She was born into a fairly complex family set up.  Now concentrate carefully, or confusion will ensue…. The dog family originally consisted of Minnie, whom they had acquired as an Australian Silky Terrier.  However, they weren’t aware that what they had was NOT purebred, until they acquired their next dog, Mickey.  They then realised that Australian Silkies did not look like guinea pigs.  Anyway, Minnie and Mickey got on very well, and in due course produced some puppies.  There were several, who all went to good homes, except for one daughter, Daisy.  By this time they had discovered that Mickey had a few genetic faults, and decided not to breed from him again, and had him neutered.  However they were left with two females, who, as female dogs do, went into heat from time to time, and usually together.  So of course, the neighbours’ dogs came calling….. There was one particularly amorous dog whose owner actually came to work at the factory.  He was a lovely light coloured chihuahua, and, as happens when there are female dogs on heat, a male dog does what he thinks he ought to do, and got both of them pregnant.  Both girls had their pups within days of each other, 3 each.  Gypsy was one of Minnie’s pups, which meant that she was the half sister of Daisy, so auntie of daisy’s pups, and at the same time the pups’ half sister.  Right…confused you enough?  I’ll move on…..

 

Gypsy inherited her colouring from her father, and her huge chihuahua eyes.  Her general size and shape from her terrier ancestors, as well as her terrier eyebrows and beard.  She inherited long hair from her silky ancestors, but it wasn’t silky and smooth; instead it was coarse and stiff, hence her nickname, the Toilet Brush.

 

Now how did Gypsy end up with me?  Her original owner, when the puppies dispersed, was a lady, Kathy, who worked at the pottery, and lived at the farm.  She stayed with her for around 18 months, and then Kathy heard from her family in her native Germany that her mother was very ill, and Kathy decided she should go home.  Her original intention was to go home for 3 years, then come back.  But what to do with the dog?  She was very concerned, and asked my daughter, Julie, what she should do.  My daughter of course said, I’ll ask Mum…..Well you guessed it, arrangements were made for Gypsy to come and live with me for 3 years, although I was fully aware that Gypsy may end up staying.  As she would be moving in with Albert, our by that time elderly Golden Retriever, it was also decided she should be desexed, as we were all having terrible thoughts about what would happen should she and Albert get together…..Gypsy was only a tiny dog.

 

So my daughter came home for a week, and brought Gypsy with her.  Gypsy hated me at first sight, and barked at me constantly.  I wasn’t her mother, and what had I done with her?  However, after a few feeds, she came round a bit, and decided maybe I was alright after all… Then we introduced her to Albert.  Well!  Albert was beside himself with joy!  Here was another dog!  And he knew very well she was female, because unknown to us, she was on heat!  It didn’t take us long to work out why he was so interested in her……so I rang the vet straight away and made an appointment…..the vet explained that he couldn’t do the operation until she was off heat, but he could give her some tablets to finish it a bit quicker, and hopefully avoid pregnancy.  So we got the tablets, and at the appointed time, took her for her operation without further mishap.

 

In the meantime, she made the acquaintance of Max.  She was used to cats, but not ones that were quite so big.  Max wondered what she was, and generally ignored her.  They have since settled into a co-existence, rather than a great friendship.

 

Julie had gome home, and Gypsy and I had to get to know one another.  I wasn’t used to little dogs, and Gypsy was definitely little.  I was used to big confident dogs, that took everything in their stride, not little nervous things, that yelped in anticipation…..and wouldn’t go through a door without being sure it wouldn’t shut on her.

 

Kathy of course had gone back to Germany, and kept in touch.  I would get letters from her with updates on her family situation, and I would write back, sending photos and news of Gypsy.  Then, as it got closer to the 3 years, I got a letter from Kathy saying she didn’t think she would be able to come back, except maybe for a holiday, because of family problems.  Could I please keep Gypsy?  By this time of course, Gypsy had wormed her way into my life completely.  Of course I wrote back and said I would be happy to keep her.  About 12 months after that Kathy managed a trip back to Australia, and came to visit, bearing gifts for me, and gifts for Gypsy.  Gypsy was delighted to see Kathy once more, and really enjoyed the visit, and the attention.  However, when Kathy was ready to leave, Gypsy came and stood next to me…..it seemed to me as though Gypsy had chosen to stay with me.

 

One day, after Nolan came to stay with us, she went out to the back room.  Nolan was outside, and they were talking to each other through the screen door.  I was in the living room with my neighbour, and we were both sitting on the floor measuring material to be made into blinds.  Suddenly, we heard this blood thirsty yelp!  We leapt to our feet as fast as we could, and both rushed out to the back room, while the yelping continued.  I expected to find blood from one end of the room to the other, but no, there was Gypsy, who had managed to get one toenail stuck in the gap between the door and the floor.  Nolan was leaning on the door from the outside, and Gypsy’s toenail was stuck fast and she couldn’t pull it out.  It took us a few seconds to work out what was actually happening, but once I did, I got Nolan to stop leaning, and Gypsy was then able to remove her toenail without further ado, and immediately danced round the room, leaping up on all the furniture….. Both of us sorta felt she should at least have had a sore foot!

 

Gypsy has now settled into life here with me.  The high point of her day is to go for a walk.  She gets so excited about putting the lead on, leaping and dancing and yelping, that it takes me at least 5 minutes to do so, because she just won’t keep still….. She also gets excited about going anywhere in the car, and she loves to visit two of her half sisters, (and nieces…..but we won’t go into that again….) who ended up living in Rylstone.  She loves to steal Max’s food….and she loves to try really hard to convince me she’s starving to death and really needs a bite or two of my dinner.  I’m always in awe of the loyalty she shows me….it’s a very humbling experience to have an animal adore you, as she seems to adore me.  I’m hoping we have a long time together yet, and I’m sure we’ll share some more adventures in time to come…….