Written by Michelle Ferreira
Professional photography by Candice Araujo Photography
On the 28th of October 2009, I decided to get in the car and drive to WetNose Animal Rescue Centre. Upon arriving there, I met a litter of black puppies. One little one stood out from the rest for me...
I went to the reception desk and asked for Blackie 2. And in the next moment, Blackie 2 was in my car and we were driving home!
From that first moment she didn’t want to be anywhere else but with me, by my side. She sat silently on my lap all the way home. A cross between a Border Collie, Labrador and Staffordshire Terrier, she was and still is gorgeous.
A growing family
That evening my husband and I named her Sassy and she became our everything. For almost two years she was our only furkid. She did everything with us, but I felt she was alone, so we adopted our second dog from Sandton SPCA. At first I was unsure, but I saw a pup called Yoyo. I didn’t adopt her immediately, but a few months later I returned and she was still there. I had to adopt her. She loved Sassy.
We named her Daisy. Daisy and Sassy became inseparable from day one; a love carved in stone!
Since then our family grew to include yet another pup, Ozzy, from Alberton SPCA, in 2012. The dude has the personality of a human. Our little boy.
Sassy becomes a hero
During 2013 we discovered just how special Sassy was. I was on the last day of a course of antibiotics. I took my medicine like always, but at around 21h00 I started feeling hot and itchy. I got some ice and just lay down. At around 23h00 I decided to take a bath.
My husband tells me that around 23h30 Sassy came and pulled incessantly on his sleeve. She wouldn’t let up – she literally pulled him off the couch! He followed her in a rush to the bathroom where I was getting out of the bath, but I collapsed. I can’t remember any of this. He caught me just before I was going to hit my head. After making sure that he’d got me to breathe, he dragged me to the car and rushed me to the hospital.
It turned out that from that point on, I was severely allergic to penicillin! And Sassy had saved my life.
I was so grateful to her and made up a little song about her, sung to the tune of “I’m a little teapot”:
I’m a little Sassy
Short and stout
Here is my tail
Here is my snout
If you rub my tummy
See me flop
Ooh, I love a tummy rub
A party of five
After Ozzy, we adopted Maximus, and then Dobby needed a home. I was so unsure about adding a fifth, but he had to stay; he was saved from an abusive setup. And then there were five dogs in the family!
Before our son came and before Covid, we did Muddy Puppy, Muddy Princess and Parkruns. Daisy did 10 to 15km runs with me as well. Unfortunately, their age and priorities changed, but we’re always together and I’m blessed to work from home and be with them all the time.
A happy home is filled with furbabies
I wanted to try and get a new running pup like Daisy, and two years ago Bambi came, also from Wetnose. Unfortunately, she’s rather scared of a lot of stuff, but she’s empathetic and special. By complete chance our seventh pup arrived and we called her Misty.
The house only has this many dogs because of our first one, Sassy. She was and is so perfect that our lives won’t be complete without furbabies. After Sassy and Daisy, my training wheels fell off, but we love them all to bits!
They sleep together, eat together and literally do everything together.
Sadly, we lost Daisy in March this year due to kidney disease – a terrible thing! I tried my best to save her, but in the end I couldn’t. She was my first loss and I feel the pain daily. I remember her first day like yesterday. We called her our snapping turtle as she had a jaw snap of note, but she was amazing. Like they all are.
I could save Maximus. I could save Ozzy twice. I had to rush him to the vet twice in his life for Addison disease, which is now perfectly under control, but he was at death’s door. He’s been operated on numerous times due to bladder stones, but that little 3kg dog is strong.
Our family grew with two cats, Patsy and Barney, a year ago and they all get along perfectly.
Sassy is now 15 and wearing a brace on her leg, and I know the time will come where I won’t be able to breathe with my pain, but I know what we got in our time together. Sassy, the world’s most perfect child!
There’s no life without sharing it with a couple of furbabies. They’re pure love on legs.
Editor's note: Sadly since working on this Happy Tale, sweet little Maximus crossed the rainbow bridge - RIP Maximus.
