Mum, Dad, my brother Michael: everyone in the family got more affection from our ridgeback-staffie cross. And guess whose bed she used to poo on…
I think the tone was set when Ella threw up over me on the way back from the Dogs Trust. She was three months old, rolling around on the back seat between me and my twin brother, Michael (we’d just turned seven), and wasn’t enjoying her first trip in a car. She could have been sick anywhere – over the seat, over the floor – but for some reason she decided to climb on to me first.
It was the start of a beautiful but strangely one-sided friendship. Ella, a ridgeback-staffie cross, was the perfect dog: playful, energetic, naughty and tolerant. She would let us poke and prod her without complaint, turn her ears inside-out or dress her up in T-shirts or the thick woollen poncho my Greek Cypriot grandma knitted her for the British winter. And she was endlessly loving, at least to the other members of the family. Me? Too often it was as if I didn’t exist. If Michael and I were sitting on the sofa, she’d bound up to him. If I came home after a day out with my dad, he was the one she’d jump at. If I tried to take her for a walk by myself, she’d drag her feet and insist that I fetch my brother.
To add insult to injury, about once a year she would do a poo in the house. Not just anywhere, though: she’d climb the stairs to my room and leave it in a neat pile on top of my bed.
I can’t pretend I wasn’t offended by Ella’s attitude – I loved her just as much as anyone. But it took me a while to realise that in her eyes we were both bitches fighting for our place in the pack. I read that dogs are 98.8% wolf, even yappy little chihuahuas. Ella was a definite she-wolf and my mother (she who opened the tin of dog food every night) was the undisputed alpha female. Ella could handle that fact, but she didn’t want to be the omega female. That was me.
Working out the reasons for Ella’s lack of sisterhood, understanding that her indifference was atavistic and not just casual, didn’t make me any less jealous of my brother, who always took great pleasure in the fact that Ella seemed to prefer him. But I resigned myself to the situation. And then one day (happy ending, anyone?) everything changed. I must have been 16 or 17, we’d been away for a fortnight in France, and when we got back it was me she ran up to first, whining and twisting with pleasure at seeing me again. After that it was like all those years of competition had never happened. We were best friends for ever, or at least for the couple of years she had left. Ella finally loved me.
Mother Dog Attempts to Care for Four Tiny Pups Despite Being Left by Owner and Having Both Legs Crushed by a Train
It’s impossible not to weep when you see the tragic predicament of abandoned stray dogs. However, not every mother dog is as courageous, tough, and protective of her children as Si Bao.
After being “mercilessly abandoned” by its owner, this dog was engaged in a tragic accident in which her hind legs were crushed by a train. Si Bao’s life appeared dismal until she gave birth to four very gorgeous and healthy pups, who practically became the driving force in this miserable mother dog’s existence.
After recovering the pleasure of living in life after having children, Si Bao restored her spirit and always kept a resilient and strong attitude to take care of her children. Si Bao walked on two front legs, keeping a watchful eye on the children.
Si Bao’s luck continued to smile when the Jill Robinson-founded nonprofit Animals Asia rescued his family and made this heroic mother dog an animal ambassador. As a consequence, Si Bao has been transferred to the organization’s headquarters, where he may begin a new life with his kid rather than struggling to earn a livelihood off the scraps of food that travelers throw away at the train track. His sole surviving is Muddie.
Furthermore, Si Bao has been renamed Lelly, and she is planning to install wheeled prosthetic legs to allow her to move more freely. Three of Lelly’s four pups died of high fever when the organization found them, leaving just Muddie.
Lelly is currently living the good life as a “Asia animal” ambassador for Animals.
Even though she is just a little dog, Lelly exemplifies an unbreakable character that does not give in to hardship.
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