March 26, 2024 - The course of life

 

Smørrebrød, Smørrebrød; hej, it's me, Mogli. I was born in Sweden but that's about all I know in Swedish.

I know, you were wondering if this blog would ever be continued after no new blog entry was made for than two years. Time flew and Lupo and I were busy living "la dolce vita". Well, not all the time, but most of it. We did a couple of excursions though. Have you ever been to Giardino di Ninfa (https://www.giardinodininfa.eu/)? This is a beautiful garden with a castello nearby and is pronounced to be the most romantic garden in the world. Unfortunately, we couldn't run free, that would have been a dream, but nevertheless it was beautiful, and we had a lot of newspapers to read.

We visited Terracina, the Tempio di Giove Anxur (https://comune.terracina.lt.it/contenuti/49704/tempio-giove-anxur) and the beach. I love the beach, but I am scared of the water. And we even went on holiday in San Nicola Arcella in Calabria. 

In Serrone we attended La festa in onore della chiesa di San Quirico, which is next door, Sagra del Cesanese (a fest in honor of the wine of the wine route "Cesanese"), a Ralley for the historic Fiat 500, we saw the paragliders take off and more because the entire year there is something special almost every weekend.

The software my humans worked on with another company (the reason why we moved to Italy) was released and we had a big party at the Castello Boncompagni Viscogliosi in Isola del Liri.

Our mistress visited Rome for three days, went to Villa Adriana and Villa d'Este in Tivoli, we all went to Subiaco (the birth town of Gina Lollobrigida) to the Monastero di San Benedetto, went to Piazza San Pietro in Vatican City at Christmas time and saw the big Christmas tree, and lots of other places.

Lupo and I enjoyed all these excursions and although he got older, he still was like a young puppy when our humans prepared the car, and went on tour.

In February this year, my master needed to fly to Germany, and we took him to the airport. Lupo was enjoying the ride, he sat in the back of the car, next to me, and looked out of the window. 

A couple of days later, we woke up in the morning and everything was normal. Lupo was fine and first thing he did was saying good morning to my mistress. Lupo and I enjoyed lying in the sun, but he was restless and during the afternoon and in the late evening, he got worse. Lupo was just standing there, completely confused and didn't know where he was and what he was about to do. Later he started throwing up and got weaker and weaker by the hour. Our mistress was at his side every minute and held him when he was throwing up.

There is no veterinarian close by, the clinic that was open 24/7 is in Rome and about an hour drive. But Lupo couldn't walk anymore, and my mistress couldn't handle carrying him while having me on the leash to put us in the car. 
There was no way for to do this. So Lupo and I were lying on our cushions and my mistress stayed awake the entire night, petted Lupo all the time and helped him standing up while he threw up. My master called several times and tried to support my mistress. In the very early morning, my mistress texted our friend Tonina and asked for help when putting me and Lupo in the car. She didn't have time, but she walked, in her pajamas, through our town and tried to find help for my mistress.

Luckily Fabrizio was available and wanted to drive my mistress to the vet. She explained, the she only needed help with carrying Lupo to the car while she had me on the leash. Fabrizio and Cynthia carried Lupo. The super friendly neighbors were so helpful and they told my mistress where the best vet would be. So, Lupo was lying in front of the passenger seat of the car, while I was in the back. I was so confused and worried about my buddy. He was my buddy for almost four years, my leader, my role model, my everything. And now he was hardly breathing any more.

When we arrived at the Clinica Veterinaria in Valmontone (https://www.clinicaveterinariavalmontone.it/) my mistress rushed inside to get help and two very friendly men came. They put Lupo on a stretcher and carried him inside. Lupo was very weak and the doctors examined him. They said, they could draw blood and do an analysis but my mistress decided that Lupo shouldn't suffer any longer. She could clearly see, that Lupo lost his zest for life and I felt it too. 

Yes, I was with my buddy all the time and through his last breath and heartbeat. I was confused and my mistress was devastated, but we needed to got through this, no matter how. My mistress had my master on that little thing thy call phone and I could hear him talk. They were both crying and very sad. It was a lot for me to take in, so many emotions,  but I also felt secure with my mistress on my side. But as I am a Husky I made a fuzz and couldn't stand still, people who know me, know how I am. During all that my mistress continued petting Lupo until he was finally gone. We said a last goodbye to him and I bumped him with my nose on his nose.

My mistress took care of the paperwork and paid for everything. Driving home and arriving home without my buddy Lupo was weird. I knew he was gone, but it was so quiet. My mistress was sad, but life goes on she said. 

I became depressed, that's what my mistress called it, for me it was like I didn't know what to do. When Lupo got up I followed him, when he lay down, I lay down too. Without him, I didn't know what to do. And that's why I did nothing at all. I wasn't excited to eat, to be honest I wasn't excited about anything.

That's why my mistress decided to talk to my master about getting a puppy. They wanted to wait a little longer but seeing me being depressed, they decided to get a puppy soon. So, my mistress asked people she knew to keep their eyes and ears open for a puppy. The plan was to get a Husky or Husky mix because we speak the same language. And they wanted to get a young puppy because they weren't sure how I would react. My mistress contacted Massimo, that man that has the Tschekoslowakian wolfdogs, my humans visited him once for my mistress' birthday. He gave her a tip where to look on the the internet. That's what my mistress did, and she didn't find a Husky puppy but another one. That one was adapted already and the lady from the animal shelter (Rifugio Iaialand in Rome (https://www.instagram.com/rifugio.iaialand/) showed her pictures of another litter of puppies. These weren't Husky puppies either, but my humans liked the look of them. So, my mistress took me on a ride to have a look at the puppies. Usually, I make a lot of noise while being on a trip with the car, but this time I was quiet. It was an hour ride and when we arrived, I had to stay in the car, there were too many dogs. My humans talked about which one of the four puppies they would take. There were three male and one female puppies and my humans wanted another male dog. Two of them were mainly black with a little bit of white and the other one was mainly white with some black spots.That's the one my humans liked the most, and my mistress decided to take that one if the animal shelter would let her.

She filled out all the paperwork when were were back home, and they were told, that someone would come to our house to check if it's good for the puppy. A couple of days later Paola came to our house. She was very friendly, and my humans and her had a nice conversation. The next day my humans got a text message, that they coul pick ip the little puppy, which was only 2.5 months old.

That day my mistress had to go to Rome to give a lesson to a girl. Normally she takes the train to Rome, but this time my humans took the car. my master and I waited in the car and after she finished we drove off to the animal shelter to pick up the puppy. 

On the way to the shelter suddenly was a loud noise because someone crashed into our car, on purpose as they found out later. After my humans talked to the driver of the other car and the Carabinieri, we continued driving to the shelter. .Balu, the puppy was small but not afraid of me at all. I was very excited and disappointed that Balu didn't stay with me in the back of the car. My master was sitting with him in the back passenger row, close to me.

When we arrived at home, Balu and I could finally get to know each other. He smelled different, not like a dog yet, more like a baby dog, means not not female or male. I wasn't aware that this little ball of fur would stay, but I got an idea when he stayed over night. Balu sleeps in his box next to me, well, if I sleep in my basket. I prefer sleeping on my human's bed.

This little puppy is a handful, he pinches me, chases me and he is annoying me - but I enjoy the company and I feel like it is my job to watch over him. The couch in the kitchen is my safe place or should I say, it still is. Balu grew a lot in the last couple of weeks and he will make it on the couch in the next couple of days. As his mother didn't teach him any manors, I need to take care of this.

Last week we went to the vet again. I was scared when I realized we were going there and while we were there, but I calmed down (well, I don't know if a a Husky can ever calm down) while Balu was examined and got his vaccine. I sensed that nothing bad was happening that time. The vets in the clinic are very friendly.

Balu is a pussy; the doctor had not even started with the vaccination, when he was already whining and the first thing he did when he was put on the treatment table was peeing.

Now he has been living with us for about a month and we are a small pack. The weather got better, and we can run in and out of the house as we like during the day. Our humans secured everything that could be dangerous for the little one as well as the plants on the balcony, because Balu love to eat them.

Wow, this was a lot to tell, and it wasn't easy. Writing a blog is way too much work for me, I am a lazy Husky after all. So, I decided Balu will continue with the blog. I don't know if he is old enough to concentrate for more than a nano second, but he will learn.

The last picture taken of me and Lupo

Balu