Flossie's homeward bound

This story reminds me about one of my favorite childhood films - Homeward Bound!

My Aunt, uncle and cousin own two farms in the Eastern Cape in Southern Africa. My cousin is a farmer and owns an Australian Kelpie called Flossie. She is a sheep dog and one of the best around. My cousin has been working with her for 10 years and she absolutely adores him. Their relationship is special and she responds to no one else.

My cousin left the farm to play golf and Floss jumped onto the back of the truck without him seeing. When he got to the golf course which is about 45 minutes away he saw her on the back and told her to stay. Many working dogs "live" on the back of trucks when not working and you will find many trucks parked in town with varieties of dogs happily waiting for their masters. She was in the shade and settled so my cousin set off.

When he got back she was gone, he whistled but she didnt come and after searching around the club house they found nothing. The chances of her being stolen was impossible as she would of bitten anyone who ventured near the truck. After spending the rest of the day searching through town and asking people if they had seen her my cousin returned home. I felt so sorry for him as he must of felt so guilty. The next day they carried on searching and it was then that they ran into a local farmer in town. He said that she would of gone home. For you to understand the magnitude of that you would need to know that as the crow flies Floss would have had to cross numorous mountain ranges as well as farm land to get home. There are also leopards and jackal to contend with and the chance of being shot.

The mountains and valleys are cliff drops with thick bush and massive summits. For a 10 year old dog it was highly unlikely that she would make it. My cousin was driving home on the second day and was driving between the two farms when he saw her. She was walking next to the farm road and was clearly heading home. She was so happy to see him and my cousin was overjoyed to see her. She was stiff and exhausted. She had been on the move for ober 18 hours. Her love for my cousin and her courage got her home. She deswerves a medal!!!!

I love a story with a happy ending.
We must never under estimate our animals
She sure deserves a medal "high five"
Bye for now

And people try to say they're just "dumb animals"! There is nothing like the complete and unconditional love given by a "pet" - using quotes because we all know that they're so much more than pets.

We have a lab/chow mix (we call her a chowbrador) who we adopted from the local shelter when she was about 3-4 years old. She had been abused and neglected by her original owner so she was very wary of us in the beginning. But now, 10 years later, I know she'd take a bullet for any mamber of our family.

When she looks at us, especially my husband, you can see the absolute love there.

I got goose bumps when my aunt told my mom, the lenght she covered to get home was amazing. Maybe someone tried to get hold of her and she bolted - we will never know. Pets are amazing creatures and there is no doubt that they show more forgiveness, empathy and love than some people.