Mum, Dad, my brother Michael: everyone in the family got more affection from our ridgeback-staffie cross. And guess whose bed she used to poo on…
I think the tone was set when Ella threw up over me on the way back from the Dogs Trust. She was three months old, rolling around on the back seat between me and my twin brother, Michael (we’d just turned seven), and wasn’t enjoying her first trip in a car. She could have been sick anywhere – over the seat, over the floor – but for some reason she decided to climb on to me first.
It was the start of a beautiful but strangely one-sided friendship. Ella, a ridgeback-staffie cross, was the perfect dog: playful, energetic, naughty and tolerant. She would let us poke and prod her without complaint, turn her ears inside-out or dress her up in T-shirts or the thick woollen poncho my Greek Cypriot grandma knitted her for the British winter. And she was endlessly loving, at least to the other members of the family. Me? Too often it was as if I didn’t exist. If Michael and I were sitting on the sofa, she’d bound up to him. If I came home after a day out with my dad, he was the one she’d jump at. If I tried to take her for a walk by myself, she’d drag her feet and insist that I fetch my brother.
To add insult to injury, about once a year she would do a poo in the house. Not just anywhere, though: she’d climb the stairs to my room and leave it in a neat pile on top of my bed.
I can’t pretend I wasn’t offended by Ella’s attitude – I loved her just as much as anyone. But it took me a while to realise that in her eyes we were both bitches fighting for our place in the pack. I read that dogs are 98.8% wolf, even yappy little chihuahuas. Ella was a definite she-wolf and my mother (she who opened the tin of dog food every night) was the undisputed alpha female. Ella could handle that fact, but she didn’t want to be the omega female. That was me.
Working out the reasons for Ella’s lack of sisterhood, understanding that her indifference was atavistic and not just casual, didn’t make me any less jealous of my brother, who always took great pleasure in the fact that Ella seemed to prefer him. But I resigned myself to the situation. And then one day (happy ending, anyone?) everything changed. I must have been 16 or 17, we’d been away for a fortnight in France, and when we got back it was me she ran up to first, whining and twisting with pleasure at seeing me again. After that it was like all those years of competition had never happened. We were best friends for ever, or at least for the couple of years she had left. Ella finally loved me.
An Elderly Dog Weeps With Joy When Her Best Friend Returns From The Army!
Not only the dog but even you will also be touched by this touching reunion…!
Your dog really missed you. That’s Unconditional love. Such a special love. Happy they have reunited.
Buddy is a 13-year-old Golden Retriever who spent her entire life with her best friend Hannah Foraker. And Hannah enlisted in the army and went to basic training in Oklahoma when she turned 21.
When Hannah returned home for Christmas after three months away at basic training, she couldn’t wait to see Buddy. Buddy couldn’t contain her joy and excitement when she saw Hannah again. She buries her head in Hannah’s lap and begins to cry in joy the moment she sees her after three months apart. Of course, Hannah was moved and began to pet her beloved friend.
It’s photos like this that bring tears to your eyes…!
Buddy is very old now, art.hritis, and mostly de.af, but nothing stopped her from receiving Hannah with the best welcome.
Foraker said: We opened the front door and she came running out and greeted me and my family, but then kind of did a double-take and came back to me.
The dog is the most devoted of all animals. They never forget those they love and give them “Unconditional Love”.
This is true love of a dog and his best friend reunite together thats a is a great welcome home for them both. So it just proves that animals have got feelings too
That is a special love.
Thank God you came home dogs never forget and love forever. God Bless them both.
Bless you dog! Animals are so affectionate and loving…
May they have a rich life together bless them both.
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