Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Chobe of Canada












Dog lovers share a common connection - all of us with plastic bags in the pocket of every jacket, most of us with a fine layer of dog hair on our black trousers, and all with nose marks on the windows of our cars. We can spot one of our own a mile off.
Two winters ago, whilst strolling the streets of Wanaka (there's not many, it's not a big town, but still we stroll) we happened across Chobe and her people. As is often the case, it was Chobee the RR that we noticed first. She is gorgeous and reminded us so much of our first RR Simba. We stopped for a pat and a chat and as it turns out that chance meeting has become a piece of D-fa's history.
Having lived in the UK, Singapore, NZ and now Canada, Chobee is an international Rhodesian Ridgeback of mystery. Upon meeting them they were all set to depart the end of the NZ winter to enjoy another cold spell in BC, Canada.
Ridgebacks are natural heat seekers and will follow warmth wherever it takes them. I am sure Chobee was facing a thermal dilemma over what's better - wandering about under the natural warmth (thanks to the Ozone layer) of NZ sun or another few months snoozing in front of a roaring fire during a frigid Canadian winter. It's hard to take pity on a RR who is as loved and adored by her people as Chobee is, but we couldn't help but think of how much less of a dilemma she would face if she had a nice merino jacket to wear on her travels.
At this time D-fa was really only a twinkle in our eyes, and we had only a couple of a test jackets that had been made pretty much from scraps of fabric as we tried to see how they might work. But our RR Jack was happy to part with his original Ice-Barker merino so it was packed up in all its scrappy glory with Chobe and shipped to Canada.
We have often thought of Chobe over the last few years, wondering what far flung land she's snoozing in now, but we didn't expect another chance meeting to bring us news of her adventures. Whilst at the Wanaka A&P show (social highlight of the year in Wanaka) we got a visit from Chobe's people who were visiting NZ. We couldn't believe our eyes. Even better they have pictures of their beloved wearing her very very old Ice-Barker in Canada. The jacket has apparently been worn all winter, both years and is Chobe's favourite possession (after her bed, dinner bowls, the fire etc) ... so we're top ten anyway. Annie (our RR) gave them some big ridgeback love to keep them going until they returned to Canada, this time with a proper D-fa with proper clips and logos and most definitely not made of scraps!

Thanks for making D-fa history.