Last weekend we went to Sydney for a get-together that one of my numerous cousins had organised. On the way up we stopped for an hour or so at the home of Obi's first family, who had him till he was 9 months old (and then rehomed him due to a family dog allergy). Obi was absolutely delighted to see them - he definitely remembered them despite not having laid eyes or paw on them for 10 months. And they were equally thrilled to see him. He was a really good boy too. They were remarking about how much he had grown up and quietened down (while I was thinking, but not saying, yep, a lot of hard work has gone into that - it didn't happen by accident!). We did a few things like heeling and a bunch of other obedience things to show off a little bit ;D Obi used to be called Duke, but, on testing, did not answer to that any more, only to Obi. They'd bought heaps of toys and treats for him, which I knew they would do. Obi was full of pigs ears by the end. They put on a lovely afternoon tea for us too (they are a Chinese family so we had Chinese treats like red bean cakes, which I looove) and even gave us a case of beer. They really are a lovely family and it was obvious that they had missed Obi terribly. We were really glad that we dropped in and will definitely do it again. We think that Obi was a little bit confused by the experience but not too much. Afterwards we went on to my parents' place and had dinner with them and my brother and his wife. My brother Jon brought over one of their cats, Ginger, because I had said a few times that Obi is really good with cats, which he is. But it takes two to tango. Ginger was having none of it. He retreated to the top of a curtain rail the first chance he got and spat and hissed like a feline volcano. Once retrieved, he spent the rest of the evening shut in the upstairs bathroom. I asked Jon what he had thought would happen and he said he thought that Ginger and Obi might cuddle up together. : ;D Poor Ginger.
Re: Visit to First Family Thats so lovely Rachael (well...apart from the cat bit ;D ) I bet you secretly were really pleased he didn't respond to the name Duke Good boy Obi 8)
Re: Visit to First Family [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=2775.msg28447#msg28447 date=1380754133] I bet you secretly were really pleased he didn't respond to the name Duke [/quote] Just a little, haha ;D
Re: Visit to First Family What a lovely adventure and so nice to know he was missed by his first family
Re: Visit to First Family Lovely to read. Well done all round. Please keep us up to date with Obi's adventures. I love reading them.
Re: Visit to First Family Rachael,how did you find out about him?im so glad you did ,what a life he has with you x Your brothers rose tinted glasses must have needed the condensation cleaning off them after The cat and dog meet and greet ,nice for you to see your family though xxx
Re: Visit to First Family The cat thing was pretty funny. Brother's rose coloured glasses now definitely de-misted ;D Obi was advertised on an on-line 'for sale' site, where people sell everything from old furniture to fridges. Most pet advertisements on this site are of the 'Free to good home' variety and most are bitsas and most ads are semi-literate. Obi's ad stood out because he had registration papers, a high price, lots of nice photos and a lengthy write-up. I saw his ad two days after we lost our old boy, Nicolae. I was obsessed with looking at all things Labrador - I guess to fill our sudden, huge and very painful Labrador vacuum. I looked at Obi's ad for two weeks, every day, and finally worked up to persuading hubby to let me call. Obi was still for sale but some people were coming to see him that weekend, so we drive up to Sydney the next day to see him first. We drove back with him that afternoon. It turned out that he is a bit related to Nicolae - there was one dog in Nicolae's pedigree that I would have wanted in my next dog and Obi is also descended from this dog. So I kinda feel that it was meant to be. Obi was a whirlwind when we first got him. But he's been just what we needed and I like to imagine that the reverse is also true.
Re: Visit to First Family I met a lady on the beach with a spaniel (lovely dog) and she told me a story about how she got Cilla (too long to type out here). At the end of the story she said "really, they find you". Sounds like you and Obi were meant to be, and he really did find you!
Re: Visit to First Family Thanks, everyone Took a few pics of the young man this morning on our walk. Excuse the muddy face. Ran off just as I was trying to take this one... That's better!
Re: Visit to First Family So lovely to hear of the visit , you must have felt so proud of your boy , smashing photos too, bless him
Re: Visit to First Family He is a lovely dog! Great thick tail! (All of him is great, but I don't think I've seem Obi's tail before). If you are muddy, it's been a successful walk. That's what Charlie says anyway.
Re: Visit to First Family Yeah, I think he picked up the wrong tail after class one day - it belongs to a dog about twice as big. Possibly the same dog that owns the ears ;D Thanks for the nice comments, all. We think he's quite a pretty boy
