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| Name: |
Poppy
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Age: |
Six years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
Terrier mix
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| Home: |
Nabeul, Tunisia |
I found my Poppy in a cage full of Kanish stray dogs in the market in Nabeul six years ago. She was looking so sad, her ears sticking up. Black with a small flash of white on her chest. In Tunisia, black animals are thought to be unlucky and not wanted. In fact Dogs have a bad time here as they are not allowed in the house (it is believed that they frighten away angels from the home) remain chained up in all weathers outside and are ill-treated and generally regarded as vermin.
I knew the seller of the small pet shop, he allowed me to hold her and told me a false story of her background. He said that an English lady had to return to the UK and had left her with him. He said that she was two months old. I opened my purse not realizing that he was watching me count my money,I had 80 Tunisian Dinars (36.48 US Dollars). 'You can buy her for 80 dinars' he told me. I gave him all the money I had to live on for that month.
I had no intention of buying a dog, I had two cats (sisters called Dom and Tak named from the sound of the Darbouka drum). I would have to pay for them all when I eventually left Tunisia to return to the U.K. I could not leave her there, she was trembling with fear. I paid for her and took her to my vet who told me that she had two broken ribs and apparent damage to her internal organs. She was malnourished needed a bath and vaccinations. That first night, once Dom and Tak had inspected her I set her a box in the living room to sleep, once I got into bed, I heard a stomping of feet running down the long corridor and with an enormous jump, Poppy landed on my bed, she had found her happy home and a comfy bed.
Over the next few weeks it became apparent that she would have to have a total hysterectomy. The vet said that she was about six months old not two months. She had had no training and desperately craved love and affection. She even eat with the cats ( fish with the bones removed) and her dinner also. She developed a craving for Dental sticks which I used to train her.
She was terrified of children and women, it took ages to stop her from snapping at peoples' feet. It is a bad habit here for most people to kick dogs, even when on the lead with their owner. She has anxiety attacks if left alone in the house and cowers under the bed when she hears the loud mezwit music which is played here when marriages are taking place.
She got to know all of the street cats that I fed two times a day and when they started having kittens in our garden, Poppy became the guardian angel of the strays. The mother cats allowed her to watch and play with their kittens as she fought off big Tom cats that came to steal the newborn kittens. She had her vaccines, vitamins and operation. Slowly she became house trained and once we moved home, has become the 'Top Dog' living with my seven rescued cats in our family of animals. two boys, Rufus and Cheeky and the five girls, Dom, Tak, Shadow, Smudge and LuLu.
Poppy and all of the cats have still had a terrible time living here, the cats have been kicked and in the case of two of the girls, miscarried. Poppy has been stolen twice - fortunately I found her and got her back home, albeit with terrible cuts on her back where the boys had beaten her with electric cable. She was stabbed in the neck with a knife when a thief tried to steal her from me outside a shop, the vet said that the same had happened to five others dogs the same day, all had to be taken for treatment. We still live here because it is too expensive to return back to England as yet. Reading this back it all seems quite sad but this is a third world country and peoples behaviours are hard to change.
Poppy loves her walks on the beach each day. She hates dogs, all except for a wonderful Dalmatian called George Bush, sadly he was poisoned 4 years ago, Poppy still remembers his name. She loves rides in the car and being accepted at the dentist and hairdresser. She likes watching TV with the cats and me in the evenings.
Poppy only barks for security reasons, many dogs here bark 24/7 so this is a bonus for us. She also barks when splitting up the cats when they have issues. She is very patient and intelligent. She watches my movements to understand what is the programme for the day. When I get dressed to go out, she will not leave my side until I have explained what we will be doing. I will tell her that we will be going in the car in eg two minutes, she accepts this to be about fifteen minutes. If I say five minutes, she will lay down until I am ready. She also understands later eg in the afternoon and not today. I always talk to her so she understand a lot of words and phrases in Tunisian Arabic, French and English.
I have ill health so she is used to not going out some days. We play about instead. She loves classical, funk and music on you tube for animals. She loves me to sing about her when we are driving, I have to sing lots of 'Poppy is a good girl' and 'Poppy is my baby.' When the cats come for a cuddle she sometimes goes into a huff, moves away and sulks.
She loves stuffed animals that 'talk,' I buy them in the second hand markets. She had a Christmas penguin that said, "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas" then sang the Jingle bell song ... Thankfully she wore it out within two months that summer! Her favourite at the moment is a frog that makes kisses and a Mexican dog that says happy new year amigos. She loves to play fetch.
When she wants me to stroke, scratch her or go to bed she pats me on the arm, closing my eyes does not fool her. She digs in the sand at the beach and loves to people watch, but does not like the sea. Tolerates a shower but only if I have her on my knee she loves to be told 'All finished now' after a shower or when having treatment at the vets. If you ask her for a kiss she will respond. She also loves to have her photo taken. When we had tortoises, she found the three hatched babies and would sit and watch them for hours.
When I eventually return to live in the UK, (I have been retired for the past 10 years) I will have to find adoptive families for the cats, I have no home in the UK but will take Poppy with me to live in a small rented apartment. They are all my family and have kept me sane during the past fifteen years. During the Revolution 2010-2011 Poppy proved to be an excellent guard dog, despite her small size. I love her very, very much.
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