Written by Jess Robertson, founder of The BE KIND Foundation and Meredith Kujawa, her rescuer
Professional photography by Nat Gold ZA
With August having been Africanis Month, what better way to highlight what a fabulous and underrated breed of dog this is than with Tiger-Lily’s heartwarming story?
The Canis africanis is a South African dog known for its intelligence, loyalty and resilience. They make wonderful family pets and are good with children.
A long road for Tiggy
It’s been a long road for Tiggy. She was uplifted from the streets of Bellville South, found scavenging for food and left to sleep outside. The biggest challenge when uplifting a dog is finding a foster, but Rachelle Pelser came to the rescue and kindly offered to foster Tiggy at short notice.
Rachelle’s own dog, Duke, and Tiggy bonded and they shared many adventures together. Rachelle was the one to notice that Tiggy hopped a bit when she was tired, prompting several vet visits to try and determine the cause of this. They suspect she was bumped by a car as a puppy and wasn’t taken to the vet.
Several months later Tiggy underwent a hip operation to reduce the ball-and-socket hip joints rubbing against each other and causing her pain. This required cage or confined rest for several weeks, which Tiggy didn’t like; she just wanted to play! Veronique Brown kindly made sure she stayed calm and rested for several weeks. Her final foster, Anthony Chimimba, kept her safe and allowed her to heal fully until she was adopted. Without these three wonderful fosters, who knows what would have happened to her.
Ms Tiger-Lily is finally home; this precious girl now has a human sister, parents and four doggie siblings. The Van Zyl family are besotted with her and look forward to taking her on tons of hiking adventures!
We’re so very grateful that her family chose her; we know without a doubt that she’ll receive nothing but adoration, love and patience from this moment forward. Congratulations on landing with your bum directly in the butter dish due to your incredible personality, no matter what neglect you may have experienced in the past.
Go well, my sweetest angel!
Rachelle Pelser, Tiggy’s foster mum, shares...
Tiger-Lily came from the streets in quite a state; she was pooping out plastic beads and other crazy stuff in the first few days, so that’s how desperate she’d become for food!
She was barely a year old when she arrived at my place and had already had a litter of puppies who all (except one!) ended up who knows where and weren’t responsibly homed.
On her first night she loved sleeping on a bed! She became obsessed with sitting or lying on soft things when she first arrived, probably because she was so bony it wasn't comfortable for her to sit like a normal dog would.
It didn't take long for her to start showing me her silly side, once she was assured she had food and shelter.
And once her personality started to come through, boy, did she make me laugh constantly, which gladdened my heart! She’s quite the character and even managed to lock me out of my own home once!
Stefan van Zyl, Tiggy’s owner, shares...
“You have talked so often of going to the dogs – and
well, here are the dogs, and you have reached
them…"
George Orwell
Little did we know about Tiggy and what an amazing addition to our family she’d make. Even more so, we would never have considered the Africanis when we started our journey in finding another pack member... but wow, what an amazing breed of dog the Africanis turned out to be!
From her plain-looking appearance, is exactly where her simplicity forms part of the breed and exactly why she’s so appealing and approachable to everyone she meets. I totally underestimated how muscular she is for her slender, medium-sized stature; her agility and speed is something which I can only compare to a Belgian Malinois if I had to mention any other breed of dog.
Tiggy’s such an easy-going, no-fuss dog and is simply adored by pupils and staff alike when she’s taken on her walks around the rugby field. She simply loves the amount of space available and would happily do her own thing exploring, but with appropriate training and her intelligence, she’s very obedient and a quick learner and simply a joy to walk, on and off the lead.
Did we initially want a dog from a breeder? Possibly, but only if we wanted to buy a dog that was already given a head-start in life, was well cared for, had a lot of food and a warm place to sleep at night. When we began our journey, researching dog breeds, breeders and rescue centres, we soon realised that there were many more victims of abuse and neglect that needed to be given something which some dogs lacked in their lives; hence why we chose to adopt instead.
It was only by chance that we came across this fantastic organisation, The BE KIND Foundation, regarding another dog that was up for adoption, but seeing that I wanted a dog for excursions around the surrounding mountain trails and for beach days, it was suggested that Tiggy [Princess Tiger-Lily] would be better suited.
Although we don’t know Tiggy’s entire back-story, we do know that if it weren’t for her rescuer, Meredith Kujawa, in Bellville South, she might have become yet another statistic of abandoned, uncared for, abused and euthanised animals currently in the system of neglect.
We were so nervous to meet with Princess Tiger-Lily, but our nerves soon turned to “this feels right”, and it feels as if she’s known us for as long as she’s been alive. The love you see in her eyes and the way she wants to be in your presence just shows how much she loves you unconditionally, irrespective of what may have happened before.
Tiggy has slotted in so well and has already claimed the middle of our bed as hers, along with the couch and the backseat of the bakkie… We LOVE you Tiggy, our little falafel-face!
