I had dogs die on me before, of old age, by accident… but nothing like what happened to Farrusco… One year yesterday I had to put my soul mate to sleep…
After 2 months of fighting an intestinal disease, the realization that he would not get better made me take one of the hardest decisions of my life, and do what was best for my dog…
Almost two years ago I wrote this post about 3 of the dogs who had a major impact on my life, whether personal or professional. Naturally, we seldom talk about those who are still among us, and this is no exception.
Farrusco (Ch Adágio) was without a shadow of a doubt one of the dogs of my life, and the Barbado da Terceira of my life!
It feels like it was yesterday I picked him up at the airport, straight from Terceira Island. After 3 nerve wrecking hours when nobody knew where he was (airport services had sent him to the passengers terminal instead of the cargo terminal, where he should be as he was travelling alone), I finally got him. I go to the terminal parking lot, open his crate and the puppy – barely 2 months old, this tiny dog – comes out, shakes, looks at me with a confident expression “are you do one taking care of me? Ok!” and calmly starts walking about and sniffing car tires. I call him “puppy” and he, still nameless and having never seen me before, comes running to me!
He had a strong character, one of the strongest I’ve seen in the breed! On his first night at the city, this tiny country dog lunges at a neighbour’s Husky and tries to bite the ankles of my next door neighbour, who hates dogs! On the next day, Christmas day, he finally went to the farm where he lived most of his live. It took him one week to act submissive towards the 7 large Estrela Mountain Dogs that were loose in the yard! But from that moment on, he realized it wasn’t his job to try to be the boss, and relaxed! And he learned to be a puppy… for the rest of his life!When I got Farrusco, he had the deep look of an old wise dog. As he grew up, he gradually changed to a much younger and playful expression!
He became an extremely well-balanced dog, to whom I never had to formally teach anything. He knew what I wanted even before I knew it, and did it immediately with a smile on his face.
He was an amazing natural guard, who knew when to work and when not to. He actually prevented strangers from entering the farm – when they took advantage of a moment when I was switching the dogs loose on the yard to open the gate and enter. Fortunately, they had the good sense of stopping when they saw this big black shadow running full speed towards them. Then, he also stopped, sitting in front of them barking (with a Clint Eastwood-like expression “Come on, move! Make my day!”). When I finally got to the dog and people (whom we had never seen before), talked to them and let them in, Farrusco immediately changed from an active guarding mode to… trying to jump on their laps to be petted!
That’s the type of dog he was – he’d work when needed to, if I was around he’d relax into a lap dog who only wanted to be cuddled!
Farrusco has his spot in the history of the Barbado da Terceira as the breed’s first Champion of Portugal. But that for me is a mere detail of his life history.He gave me two of what I consider to be the best Barbados I’ve bred, and his genes live on on his children and grandchildren. That’s a bit more than a detail…
But more than anything…
He was my first Barbado da Terceira, after I fell in love with the breed some years before…
He was present at some of my best moments, and some of my worst…
And, more than anything, he was truly my soul mate… And that is something no one will ever take away from us!
Miss you so!...
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