Some dogs come into your life when everything is already going right.
And then there are the dogs who arrive when you need them most, the universe sends you who you need , when you need them, and for me, that was my darling Miss Evie.
About fifteen years ago, I was living and working in the Netherlands as a competition groom. I'd moved there after leaving an abusive relationship, and I was in a very dark place. I'd found myself far away from home, separated from all of my support network, working long hours and struggling more than I knew how to admit at the time.
A perfect time to get a dog I don't hear you cry! Yes, I know, far from the most responsible decision, but I was in my early 20's...and do any of us make the best decisions then?
When it came to finding the perfect pup, I went back to childhood memories....When I was little, I had a big dog encyclopaedia, the sort where every breed had a picture and little notes pointing out their characteristics. And there was one dog who always caught my eye.
The Basenji.
I didn't know anything about them beyond the fact that I thought they were beautiful and completely fascinating. So, naturally, when I decided I wanted a dog, I either wanted a Basenji...
...or a blue merle Border Collie called Boo for some reason, I do like to go to extremes!
I knew absolutely nothing about finding a responsible breeder. I was in a foreign country, there was a language barrier, and this was before we all carried the internet around in our pockets. So bare with me for the next part of this story....I did what seemed perfectly sensible at the time, I Googled puppies locally.
And as chance would have it, the first litter I found, was a litter of Basenjis. There were two puppies left, a brindle boy and a little red girl, so I went to meet them.
Immediately I realised something was very, very wrong, the puppies were in a dark room at the back of a property, surrounded by concrete kennels, heat lamps and the noise of lots of different dogs. It was a puppy mill.
Every bit of advice now tells me I should have walked away. And knowing what I know today, I completely agree. But then there was this tiny red-and-white puppy, her mum was shut down and terrified, would she end up in a similar way, I couldn't just walk away, that's how they get you though isn't it?
The little boy came over and started chewing my bag straight away, and the little girl?
She waddled over to me, with her podgy little piggly puppy wiggle, sat beside me, put her paw on my knee and looked up at me.
That was it.
I was done.
I swear she looked at me as if she was saying:
"We've found each other, it will all be OK now"
I went back a couple of days later, and I brought her home.
I know that buying a puppy from a situation like that only helps perpetuate the cycle, and that's something I still carry a lot of guilt about. It's a subject I'll talk about another time I'm sure, because there are important conversations to be had about ethical breeding, puppy farming and what we can do when we encounter situations like this.
But this story is about Evie. My sweet baby girl. And from the moment she put that tiny paw on my knee, she changed my life.
I often say that Evie saved my life, and I'm not being dramatic, I know I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her, and truly...I think we saved each other.
She gave me a reason to get up every morning. A reason to keep going. A little soul who needed me, completely and unconditionally. And, as I would learn over the next ten years, she was going to teach me an awful lot more than that.
Because Evie wasn't just any dog. She was and still is, my soul and my centre.
And this was only the beginning...
Thank you for taking the time to read the first part of our story today, I'll be sharing more over the coming weeks.
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