Introducing The Boys

Articles

Robin Alan Bell

How Swede it is

Introducing The Boys
May 12, 2003

As a small boy, I had always wanted a dog. But because we lived in a small council house in England, I was not allowed to have one. It wasn’t until I moved to Australia and got a house of my own that I could finally take the plunge and find myself a dog. Actually, he found me – I was browsing through a local pet shop and saw him in a cage in a corner, all by himself and whimpering quietly. He was around 6 weeks old and looked so sad and lonely that I couldn’t leave him there.

I found out that he was a mixture of Border Collie and Australian Cattle Dog, with several other breeds thrown in for good measure. I suspect there is some Doberman in there and possibly a hint of Dalmation too. Wally, as he became known, quickly settled in to his new home and set about destroying his basket, the furniture and the garden with great enthusiasm.

When I moved to my 100 acre farm in rural New South Wales, Wally loved the freedom and space. He also chased everything that moved, including the local population of red bellied black snakes, but somehow he managed to survive. Shortly after I moved to the farm, Wally and I gained another companion, in the form of Sam, a pedigree German Shepherd. Sam’s owners, close friends of mine, had brought Sam out to the farm a few times for weekend visits and Sam and Wally had become good friends. When Sam’s owners decided to move from their rural property to live in suburban Sydney, they asked me if I would like to take care of Sam permanently. They thought it would be unfair to Sam to have to live in a suburban back yard, after having the freedom of a rural property.

So Sam joined the family and for a while all was well in the world. But then the boys decided to become explorers, and on a couple of occasions took themselves off for the day into the surrounding bushland, to return a few hours later, usually covered in mud. It was after one such trip that I decided that I had to build what became known in local folklore as “The Great WalSam Fence”. When Wally returned alone one evening after being missing all day, I feared the worst for Sam. Wally and I spent the next few days scrambling through the bushland, calling and looking for traces of Sam, with no success. Finally I had a call from the local council – Sam had been spotted and caught on a nearby cattle property and taken in to the dog pound. Luckily he had been micro-chipped and so it was a simple matter for the council to find my address and telephone number and contact me. A couple of hundred dollars later and Sam was safely home.

And so the great WalSam fence was erected, enclosing around two acres of land containing my house, tractor shed, orchard and vegetable garden – and the two dogs. Here Wally and Sam could run and explore during the day while I worked inside and three times a day we could all go for walks together down to the river (about a kilometre away from the house). The fence also had the benefits of keeping the local wildlife – kangaroos, wombats, rabbits etc. away from the vegetables and fruit trees.

When I made my decision to move to Sweden, there was no question in my mind as to whether the boys would come with me. They had been my only companions on the farm for the last two or three years and there was no way that I could leave them behind. So now I had to find a way of not only getting them to Sweden, but also finding somewhere that they could stay while I found a house suitable for us all. Luckily, Pet Carriers International more than satisfied both requirements. They took delivery of Sam and Wally when I sold the farm and looked after them until I was able to send an email to say that their new house was ready for them. Not only did Pet Carriers organise accommodation and transport for the boys, they treated them as part of their family, and sent us regular emails of their condition and happenings – such as the close encounter with the bush fires which devastated large areas around Sydney at that time and which threatened the Pet Carriers establishment several times.

But finally, after five months of searching, we found our house in Sweden, with a large area of land, close to a lake and forest, that suited both us and the boys. I took the precaution of fencing the backyard of course – not being able to speak Swedish, Sam and Wally would be in trouble if they strayed too far away. Then an email to Australia and within a few days all the import licences and Swedish documentation was settled, veterinarian checks had been completed and vaccination certificates issued. We had arranged to collect the boys from Stockholm airport, which is around four hours drive from our house, and were there ready to clear them through customs and more veterinarian checks on their arrival.

It was a very emotional moment to see the boys again after almost six months apart, but they soon realised that we were united again and settled down for the drive home. I don’t know if animals can suffer from jet lag, but the boys seemed as lively and high spirited as ever after just a couple of days.

Now they have been adopted by the local children in our small village here, who regularly take them out for walks after school, or come into the backyard and play with them. Both the boys think this is wonderful, of course, and they are rapidly learning the Swedish for “No”, “Wait” and “Come”.

Next week I’ll introduce you to the three other, smaller, boys in our animal family and tell of some of our efforts to introduce both sets to each other…

Hälsningar till nästa vecka,

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About the author: Robin Alan Bell is an Englishman by birth, but migrated to Australia back in '72. Married and divorced there. Spent the last 3 years living by myself on a remote farm in rural New South Wales with no mains electricity, water etc. All power, heating was from natural resources (solar, wind, wood). "Met" a Swedish girl on the internet, came to Sweden for a holiday, loved the place (and the girl), moved to Sweden permanently Christmas 2001 and married the girl in Easter 2002. Living happily ever after... Email Robin Alan Bell: sosoft@ozemail.com.au

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