I offered to write a post for a friend, Michele, who has just sadly lost her Shar-pei, Chunky.
THIS IS HANDSOME CHUNKY
December 2002 – March 2011
Michele writes a blog & would love it if others read it now in memory of her much loved dog.
Wednesday, 2nd March 2011 we had to say goodbye to our dear Shar-pei, Chunky. At just 8 years old, Chunky had become a victim of a dreaded tick disease which had slowly invaded his body. He fought a battle for much longer than we had known and our beautiful special little man could fight no more. Tony and I had to make one of the most difficult decisions of our lives. We so much wanted him to stay with us but it would have been just cruel to put him through any more. We had always promised never to let any of our dogs suffer and Chunky would not be an exception. Even though both our hearts are broken, we know we had to do this final thing for him and take away his pain.
When you have to say goodbye to someone, whether it is a family member or a pet (which in my mind are one of the same), you often try to think of what you can do to keep the memory of that person or pet alive. Do you buy a chair, place it somewhere that they loved to go? Perhaps plant a tree? What can you do for an 8 year old shar-pei who was totally misunderstood by some, but loved by so very many. Tony has taken the decision to have a tattoo on his back with all three of our dogs together, Chunky being in the middle keeping an eye on the two little ones. For me, I will write this blog. I would like to think that perhaps one day, somewhere, someone will type “Chunky” into their laptop and up would come this story of our wonderful friend……..
The Beginning……….
Tony and I moved to Spain in December 2002 and settled into our little flat. Our first real home together and the first few weeks of our marriage. Everything was wonderful and we made the place look beautiful but there was something else that I hoped against all hope that Tony would also want….a dog!
We used to shop often at Carrefour and in those days there was a pet section to the side which had young puppies in horrible glass cages. I hated to see them in there but at the same time was drawn to them every time we went in to shop. We would go in and ignore the signs and touch the side and try to encourage the dogs to come and see us. It was always so tempting – I just wanted to take them all home but we really weren’t sure whether the community that we lived in would even allow pets.
One particular day, off we went to Carrefour as usual and as was the norm, Tony said “I guess you will be going to the pets bit first!”, he didn’t need to wait for an answer because I was already on my way. In I went, straight to the back and there he was …just looking at me, a baby lion! He looked absolutely gorgeous, tan colour, long hair and lots of wrinkles! A Shar-pei. I had seen the breed on many of the adverts on TV for beauty creams but knew absolutely nothing about them. Tony came to look too and we both thought this puppy was the one. We asked if we could hold him and of course the assistant agreed. Tony could see by the look on my face that I wanted him there and then but I was very sensible (for once) and told the assistant “we would think about it”. That evening we did nothing but talk about this pup that had stolen our hearts.
The next day I went upstairs to see a neighbour and told her about our meeting with the pup. Ann said she would happily look after it if we had to go away, so why not get it? Well, you could not see my feet for dust …I was down the stairs quicker than you could say, “get the car keys”. Who cared what the other people in the block would say ….we were going to rescue that beautiful baby boy from the glass prison and bring him home. Tony didn’t need much persuading and we were soon on our way to Carrefour. Tony could see the anticipation in my face and also the fear that I would get there and he would be gone so he dropped me outside the door and went to park up. I went straight into the pet section and could see a crowd around my dog! I decided my best move was to find the assistant first who just happened to be by the counter nearest to me. ”I would like to buy the Shar-pei please” I said in my very best Spanish! I then followed her to where the others were stood and waited whilst she opened the door to freedom for my boy. She took him out, kissed him on the top of his head and handed him to me! He had that smell of puppies that you would only recognise if you have been fortunate enough in life to have had a young pup. Another English couple were there and the lady turned to me and asked if I was having the pup and I beamed and told her I was. I then realised how lucky I had been because she told me that they were just about to go and buy him! Close shave that one!
Chunky was 960 euros and it was quite strange that we actually had to take him through the checkout! As far as I could see there was no barcode attached to him, but who knows! The assistant told me he was expensive because he was very rare…don’t get many long haired shar-pei’s she said. A long time after I discovered that she was right, the long haired variety are not that popular (known as Bearcoat’s) purely because they are often considered as a throw-back and certainly the kennel club in the UK would not recognise them because their hair was “too long for the breed”. Sadly, it is also well known that some breeders would kill them rather than let the bearcoat be allowed to go on and breed. The bearcoats are however very popular in the USA for some reason.
Read further about Chunky here & Michele, it was a pleasure to do this for you.