Pets at the bridge

Tzels Page
Bred by Jill & Ian Terry of Babrees Canaan Dogs and Myrna Shiboleth of the Shar Hagai Kennels in Israel. Tzel Schacmac, black shadow in Hebrew, describes Tzel perfectly. He was my shadow, protector and companion.  Every night he slept outside my open bedroom door, the only time he would venture into the room at night was to shelter under the bed from his only real fear which was thunder. Every morning he would stand by the bed nose to nose with me with his wagging tail banging on the radiator willing me awake. He knew instinctively when things were not right in his world, I was alone in the house one day when there was a knock at the front door, the man there was offering gardening services and was not taking a no thank you for an answer, Tzel flew down the stairs and knocked me out of the way to get to this man. The dogs at the back of the house started to bark wildly and I got there just in time to see another man scarpering down the driveway, there had been a spate of distraction burglaries in the area at the time and Tzel knew this visitor was not to be trusted. Last winter he went through a spate of running up and down the stairs in the evening, pawing at us and whining non-stop to the point of being a real nuisance and he stopped sleeping upstairs, the mystery was solved when I walked upstairs one evening to find smoke on the landing, the chimney had been leaking potentially lethal  fumes into the upstairs bedrooms, we stopped lighting the fire, his behaviour went back to normal and the blinding headaches we had been suffering from for weeks disappeared! Never a fan of strange dogs, unless they were other Canaans or Akitas, he had a real affinity with small furry and feathered creatures, he spent many a day in the same room as a chinchilla escape artist with no mishaps, and he carried a tiny kitten to me that he found in our overgrown garden when we first moved here, soggy but completely unhurt this feral kitten joined the gang.  Described as feminine as a puppy he blossomed into a large, strong, masculine dog.  He brought an air of dignified confidence to the Canaan Dog Show ring and his "look at me" attitude won him many admirers and Best of Breeds. His passing leaves a gaping hole in our hearts and a home that feels strangely empty and quiet.
Just under a month short of his 10th birthday my beautiful boy died in my arms, dignified and courageous to the end.

Ookiis Page
Ookii was my first Akita, and getting him to nearly 13 years old was certainly a challenge. Ookii has to take the credit for getting me hooked on the wonderful world of dog showing. Even though he was bought as a pet curiosity made me enter him for several shows resulting in him qualifying for Crufts 1999!
Unfortunately Ookii suffered from various health problems and allergies, he seemed to react to ALL commercial foods, by the end of 1998 I was desperate to find him a food that did not make him ill, then I stumbled onto raw feeding. I spent the next few months learning about species appropriate food and the effect that commercial diets can have on dogs. It seemed that I had found the answer, I could eliminate all the food that Ookii was allergic to and still provide him with optimal nutrition! So in March 1999 I gave Ookii his first chicken wing..... the rest, as they say, is history. He was a gentle big old cuddly bear and is missed so much.