ASHLEY

I will meet you in heaven one day my beautiful dog unless you have returned to Earth as a human and you now rule the World.

Victoria Sinclair

My love for animals is so profound that I often question if I shouldn’t work in an organisation that saves and protects animals.

Ashley, my cocker spaniel, which came to me when he fitted in a shoe box was one of my greatest teachers.

He was just six weeks when I got him and he was the last to get a home.

His parents were both pedigreed golden cocker spaniels.

I had Misha and Sasha before and I thought that Ashley would be just like my previous spaniels, easy to raise.

First lesson was that every time that I touched him he would bite my finger with his razor sharp baby teeth.

I never had that experience before with my previous spaniels and I was worried that he suffered from some affliction because he was taken away from his mom too early.

I lost my mom too early. I was only 14 and my sister 10 years old.

So I related to that severe sense of loss.

I used to bite my nails and my mom used to tell me that if I carried on with that bad habit I would never have a boyfriend.

Boyfriends were such a mysterious notion for me at 12 years when I had that conversation with my mom that the nail biting continued until one day I just stopped.

So, I thought that Ashley was suffering from separation anxiety.

I thought, I understand you my beautiful dog but I will make sure that you will be so loved that this behaviour will stop.

It took a long time for Ashley to stop biting my fingers and at one point I thought this dog was the last to go because he had bitting sickness syndrome and I phoned my son in tears and said I think that I have to let him go.

It had been two years.

One day he stopped and he became the most extraordinary dog that I could have wished for.

He saved my life with his dedication, protective nature and loyalty when I was intruded upon one early morning at three in the morning.

He gave me time to run away and scale the wall into my neighbours house.

He looked perfectly elegant and well groomed just like an English aristocrat until he turned vicious to protect me.

All my friends loved him and when my friend Lena stayed with me he was allowed on her bed.

The second unusual behaviour that he had was that he hated swimming. Strange because most spaniels love water.

Much before Ashley we had Misha he was a total legend.

Misha, the spaniel that was the constant companion of my son Paul was revered in Melville.He not only took himself for walks and was greeted by lots of people in our suburb but in summer he would swim in anybody’s pool. They allowed in. A total free spirit.

He was epic. Misha was awesome.

After Misha I had Sasha a black and white spaniel that was the softest dog that ever lived. He was killed by a car whilst crossing the road his last look was for me. I still see the faint drop of blood streaming from his nose and I cry. He had crossed the road when I arrived home to greet a tree. A piece of my heart went with him. He was two years old.

Ashley would also take himself for walks on the Melville Koppies and one day he fell in love with a lady spaniel that lived two streets away.

I knew where to find him. I would walk to 8th Avenue and there he was admiring his Juliette from the front gate.

I gave him the best life any dog could wish for and when he got sick at the age of 15 years old I lay his body on my chest during the early hours of the morning on the 19th to the 20th of September 2019 and he passed away with a last breath at 7:30 in the morning on my chest listening to my heart.

I was, I am and I always will be honoured that he chose me as his human.

The truth is that it still hurts not to have Ashley with me anymore but we had the best time together.

I am called the mother of the dogs because I give them my heart and soul.

In essence I believe that a house without a dog is not a home.

You miss out on all the fun, the mischievous moments, the endless conversations without words because they love you in silence. Their eyes and their wagging tails tell the story.

One day when I meet Ashley I will feel whole again.

TRADE ANTHOLOGY//

Victoria

Talk soon

I love all animals.