Hello, Gemma here letting you know how I have settled into my new forever home. I have grown up quite a lot now and am quite the little lady in fact my Mum says I am a Cavalier with attitude! I really do not know what she means but she calls me Her Royal Highness or HRH for short. I am certainly Queen of all I survey. I chase the cats in the garden. I sulk if Mum is on the computer because she should be cuddling me all day. Right! I sulk if Dad goes off in the car without me because I should be going with him too right! Surely this is not asking too much of my humans. I expect to be waited on hand and foot this is the joy of being a Royal Cavalier.
I am definitely in charge here, the humans think they are but they are so wrong. I have the power to make them do what I want them to do. This is good for us Cavaliers, lots and lots of undivided attention. If the humans go out well I show my disapproval and make them feel guilty for leaving me. Ellie is not too good at this so I am teaching her at the moment. Cavaliers rule OK!
Like Ellie, I love going to the caravan at Skipsea where we have such fun playing about in the rock pools and paddling in the warm water. Ellie is quite disgusting; she finds crabs and seagull poo and rolls in it. Not me, good grief I have my reputation to think of. I have to protect her too from strange dogs she is such a softy. One royal gaze and bark and the opposition backs off. Cavaliers are fearless not afraid of anything. My regal look has to be seen to be believed I can assure you!
However, please do not tell anyone but I am afraid sometimes, I put on a good show which convinces most people that I am the boss dog around here. Like most Princesses I am a little sensitive, I like to sleep in all the best places like Mum and Dad's bed on my own pillow. I am so lucky I have three beds, theirs mine and mine. I know which one I prefer and am usually up there to stake my claim before they are.
I like my comforts of which there are many here, but I am sure there are more I could obtain with just a royal gaze from my big brown eyes. Especially when treats are being given out, I learnt I did not have to do much to make them give me just one more! Then Mum began to pick me up and take me to the bathroom to weigh me each week. Too many treats she said less food for me. What, I could not believe this... I run faster than Ellie. Do all the work around here and get less food, something is not right here. More work needed on the goo-goo eyes obviously. I shall succeed, I know I can I am sure I can. Weight watchers; come on give me a break. If I was treated like I know I should be I would be at least twice the size I am now and much happier. Mum calls it "tough love" I call it downright mean. Look at what they eat and they give me zilch. Goodness, I shall have to resort to stealing soon if they do not feed me properly.
I used to be able to snack on rabbit droppings that I found very tasty courtesy of my best friend Bessie Bunny. However, during one of my many chats with my pal in the garden. She told me she was not feeling very well of late. She began to tell me that there was a lovely place called Rainbow Bridge where all animals went to when they became too sick to stay with their humans. Bessie told such lovely stories usually about rabbits not Cavaliers, well what can you expect?
Not long after Mum and Dad took her to the vet and when she came back she told me she had had an injection. It made her feel better for a couple of days. Later Bessie told me she felt so tired and wanted to go to join her family in Rainbow Bridge. I told her in no uncertain terms she could not go as we were going to the seaside in a couple of days. What about the chap? Bessie had a boyfriend who visited her over there! Basil Bunny... would be bereft...
The next day Mum and Dad took Bessie back to the vet and she did not come back home. I wondered what they had done with her and thought eventually she would return back home. I kept checking out the hutch for weeks. I miss her so much... Mum told me she had gone to Rainbow Bridge where all animals go in spirit. Wow, these humans are smart, they know animal talk. When I go to Rainbow Bridge I will meet up with Bessie and gosh I have so much to tell her. Basil stopped calling, I did tell him about the tale Bessie told me and I think he understood.
I have done so much since coming to my forever home and each day is an adventure with so much to do and explore. Check out the gallery to see how much fun Ellie and I have had since coming here, now if only I can persuade those humans that I am really hungry and need more kibble, then I think I might just have reached paradise.
Ellie recently began coughing, I was a bit worried about this and so was Mum and Dad. So they took her to the Vet who told them she had MVD (Mitral Valve Disease). Oh dear me, what is that it sounds awful. I overheard them talking and they said its a heart condition which some Cavaliers suffer from and Ellie was a Grade 6 whatever that is? She began to slow down on our walks and could not keep up with me when I was running ahead. Ok I said to her come on girl, you are not that old, whats the matter with you?
Ellie said that she was tired and could not breath very well on our long walks, she just wanted to go for short ones around the block. No more running for me she said! Oh yeah, well we would see about that, I knew she loved to go to the caravan at Skipsea and loved swimming in the sea and clambering over the rocks. Sure enough I got my wish, we went to Skipsea and we had a lovely holiday there. Ellie was in her element paddling and running on the beach and even got back to chasing me, MVD did not seem to matter at the beach. Ellie was so happy climbing on the sea walls and doing all the dare devil stuff she had never done before. This was not the Ellie I knew who used to be so scared of open spaces, perhaps she has got that old age disease dementia which humans get, she was almost like a puppy again. She did not need me to defend her against other dogs either.
Then one night she told me why she was so happy, Gemma, she said, I have not always trusted Mum and Dad and thought that they would send me away from you because I could not settle with them. So I set them a test a really big one, and they passed it. They stuck with me despite all what I did to test them out, they loved me for me, even when I got sick, I know they had their doubts but they ran the race with me and I began to see they really loved me even though I was ill. They got me a nice vet who knew all about hearts and you know Gemma I never liked vets, but Helen was very special and knew what I needed . Helen was calm and understood why my heart was racing and understood why my tummy was full of fluid. She was kind and gentle. Her injections never hurt, in fact I never really felt them. Mum gave me some tablets, but hey not neat, but wrapped up in honey roast ham, I never let on I knew about this, but Mum was so pleased when I took my pills so good. Plus you got some ham too and for what! You were not even sick!
I hated not going for long walks, but really I was happy just to go slowly around the block and eventually if you recall, I could just about manage to go to the lampost two doors down and come back. Mum started taking you for long walks on your own and me for little ones.
Then goodness me, a little whirlwind came into our lives, Milly another little tri girl, she was so much fun and Mum remember used to tell me off for chasing her around the house. Slow down Ellie, she would say, but hey it was fun to chase her up and down the stairs. I can remember you being a little jealous of the attention that Dad showed her, and I reminded you that you were now the big dog and not the baby you always were. We had to show her how to go on in the house, routines and how to get the best out of your humans!
I feel the Rainbow Bridge Angels calling me Gemma and I do not want to leave Mum and Dad and you and Milly, but I am getting weaker each day. Remember on our walk round the block on Christmas Eve, I collapsed and fainted Dad got me back to life by shaking me and by giving me mouth to mouth help. Now what I want you to do is help your Mum and Dad and especially Milly. You have a job to do. I cannot do it anymore, so I have to pass it over to you, teach Milly to be a good trusting Cavalier. I will watch over you from up at the Bridge and will be there to meet you when you arrive.
Be faithful to your rescue humans and trust them always. Learn from me that humans can be kind and caring in the long term, unlike some humans who do not appreciate the love and trust we put in them. It took me a while Gemma to realise that our new Mum and Dad did just that, appreciated the love and trust and gave us the confidence to tackle each day. I missed out on so much and only learnt later in life that lesson. Pass that on to Milly and you will leave a legacy from me, I was an old lady when I came here, (not really) but eventually became able to be myself. Do not worry for me, when I am gone, lots of Cavaliers have gone to Rainbow Bridge too early, I have had a good life and have no regrets other than I will miss you and Mum and Dad and Milly.
That was the last time we spoke, Ellie went to Rainbow Bridge the next day. I miss her so much!
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