A daisy's best friend - Milly, the Africanis

Milly’s Story

My life in St Francis is brilliant, some would even call it privileged. I have a soft bed and am never cold at night, my belly is always full and best of all, I am loved. My favourite activities are beach walks, runs on the Wildside, coffees at Bruce’s and going to Nippers with my mom.

But, things haven’t always been this good – one could even say I had quite a rough start. My dad left before I was born. My guess is that he was a handsome bloke, athletic and popular with the ladies. Definitely prolific – my resemblance to many of my peers is uncanny. Mom, on the other hand, wasn’t in great shape. From what I remember, feeding my brothers and I really tired her out. Sometimes she was even too exhausted to lift her head. Then her milk ran dry.

Thankfully, we lived alongside a busy road and there was often an assortment of tidbits we could scavenge. It was quite scary with cars constantly whizzing past, but if you were quick and could get there before the pigs or chickens, you could find some worthwhile scraps. All in all, not an ideal upbringing. I missed my mommy’s warmth and was constantly hungry. I knew where to find her and would come to check on her every now and then, but mostly we spent our days looking for food. Sleeping in the mud was yucky, but it was even worse being chased by people with sticks. Nighttime was terrifying. I learned that whenever you hear loud voices and it’s dark, you should hide. Many of my friends had been kicked or hurt when people who had that smell on their breathe came home from the tavern down the road.

One day, out of the blue, everything changed. An angel with a crown of golden curls and a soft voice came into our lives. My brothers and I had just come back from our afternoon scavenge and were checking in on our mom. There seemed to be more people than usual hanging around and then I saw a lady in a blue shirt hovering over mom.

At first, I was sceptical. Should I hide? What did she want? Humans normally don’t pay us much attention. But there was something about the way she looked at Mommy, almost as if she could feel her pain. So, I decided to watch from a little bit away.

Suddenly, her eyes turned towards me, and she held out her hand for me to smell. How did she know I really wanted to give her a good sniff? Maybe, I could trust her. She put a little pile of delicious-smelling bits of food on the floor in front of her. It didn’t take long before the pain in my tummy got the better of me and I inched forward to try my luck. I mean, how dangerous could it be – she had such a kind face? It was soooo delicious. I couldn’t stop eating and ate so much I thought my tummy would explode. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, she picked me up, lay me in the crook of her arm in a soft blanket and rubbed my belly. I couldn’t help it, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was somewhere completely different.  My brothers were there too but it felt very strange. It was quiet, warm and dry. We always had food and could play and sleep as much as we wanted – sometimes we would play so hard that we fell asleep in the middle of a game on top of each other. I expected to wake up at any moment and find myself back in our old spot under the floorboards, but it never happened.

For many weeks we were all together and had a man and a lady looking after us. Then, one day, we were bathed (an altogether awful experience) and our angel in a blue shirt came to pick us up. She piled us in a basket and took us to a very noisy marketplace. There were people everywhere – so many new smells. We sat with her under a tree for hours, as she proudly showed us to anyone walking past. Small humans loved picking us up and rubbing our tummies. It was such an exhausting day that, once again, I gave in to my urges and eventually fell asleep in the arms of a little girl with dark hair.

After a lovely nap, I opened my eyes and to my surprise, my brothers were nowhere to be seen! I was at another new place with a whole range of different smells. Next thing I knew, I was being given the once over by a tan Africanis named Penny. At first, I don’t think she liked me very much and she just sniffed around me. Naturally, it didn’t take long before she succumbed to my charm. She taught me things nobody else could; she showed me where to do my business, how to make a noise when someone walks past, how to sit and look sweet when our two-legged mom has treats, and best of all, what to do when she is mad at us (and this happened a lot in the beginning).

In my new house, there is (or was) a giant soft couch. One day when she was out, I started chewing on the corner of a cushion. It felt so good. Before I knew it, I had demolished all of the cushions and found myself surrounded by soft white fluff. The more I flicked my head, the more stuff came out in little clouds. It was the most fun I had ever had, I simply couldn’t stop myself.

Unfortunately, when my new mom came home and saw the mess, I nearly got sent back to Sea Vista. Penny came swiftly to the rescue and showed me how to look up at her with my ears up and a little bit of the whites of my eyes showing. Like a secret weapon, it always managed to soften her up a bit and the sun never set with her angry. There were many more incidences and accidents, mostly just misunderstandings I think. All those stuffed toys were surely put there for my enjoyment and deliciously odorous socks lying on the floor wouldn’t be meant for anyone else but me, right?

Penny and I have had so many adventures together. Our favourite pastime when mom was out was to climb trees so that we could jump over the back fence and go and greet all the other dogs in the neighbourhood. Sometimes we even took ourselves for a run on the beach! It felt a bit like old times. We loved our independence but made sure we always knew the way home. Sometimes, if we were gone for too long, mom would even come and find us. Those were the days! The only downside was that it made mom a real crankypants.

She has found all our escape spots now – so our daily excursions have come to an end. I can’t complain though, my life is still brilliant. She says I am calming down, but I think I am just relaxing.

Finally, I am home.