A journey for Journey
“I’ll never forget the moment I saw that photo of Journey... The horror, the disgust, the outrage and the instant, powerful knowing that she was going to be mine.
I immediately donated to SAFE Perth - Saving Perth Animals from Euthanasia, shared the post on facebook, showed my family and friends, and started the campaign to convince my husband that she was coming home to us (he wasn’t keen and we already had a large Stag hound named Charlie from them). My subsequent campaign was relentless and I had four kids onside, begging daily and eventually we wore him down.
We followed Journeys progress. I contacted Sue from SAFE Perth - Saving Perth Animals from Euthanasia, knowing her from our previous adoption and stated that we wanted Journey, Sue was like, ‘Ha, yeah, you and 4,000 other people’. We chatted for a while, me desperately trying to convince Sue I was Journey’s new mum and Sue telling me what a state Journey was in and that they didn’t even know if she was going to survive.
I was obsessed. Those eyes on those pictures, they haunted me.
Like thousands of other people, we watched the updates as the vets battled to save her life. We cheered when she finally got well enough to be released into the care of one of their most experienced foster carers, Corinna. Corinna fed her tiny amounts of food hourly to help her body adjust to food. We rejoiced in the photos of her putting on weight, laying on the sofa with Corrina’s kids and daily, I hassled SAFE Perth - Saving Perth Animals from Euthanasia.
This dog was mine.
Finally, after weeks of intense loving and nurturing from Corrina, we were invited to drive to meet Journey, we were so excited. We drove up and my kids tumbled out of the car, eager to meet this dog that had stolen our hearts, a river of foster puppies dashed out to meet my kids but they only had eyes for Journey. We stayed and played with Journey, listening to Corinna’s stories about how amazing she was with her kids, how even after all the neglect and starvation, she wasn’t food aggressive and how she mothered the other puppies that Corinna was looking after. We were in love.
After a couple more weeks, I got the phone call I had been waiting for. Corrina said, ‘it’s time’. I got in the car and drove up and adopted her that day. I was so nervous, I talked to her all the way home, her big ol‘ lips slobbering all over the car and my hair, as she hung her head out the window, greedily taking in every smell and sight.
I assured her that she would have the best life.
I promised her she would never be hungry again, told her about our chickens, our cats and Charlie, and begged her to behave herself, because we were all on trial for the next two weeks.
I needn’t have worried, as I got her out the car, the kids ran out to greet her and we took her into the house to meet the family, her tail did not stop wagging. She wasn’t fazed by the cats, she was super keen on Charlie and when she went over to the chickens, Ruby, the Matriarch, jumped up and attacked her, Journey fled in terror and her place in the pecking line was established.
She was home.
Journey quickly settled in, filling her life with love, we took her to the beach, she came on the school runs, she worked her charm on my husband, she came on holidays, she absolutely completed our family. She is the biggest sook and protects the kids if they ever get sick, barks furiously to save them from drowning when they are in the pool, she smiles when we come home, she sleeps IN our beds, head on the pillow, if its cold, she demands to be under the quilt, she snores, she farts, she is getting fat and she is LOVED.
We have SAFE Perth - Saving Perth Animals from Euthanasia to thank. They became a part of our family as a result, we all volunteer, we have fostered, we have helped out at their rescue properties, I do house visits for new carers or new owners, I collect donations, being a part of a genuinely caring, NO KILL animal organisation is an honour and we are proud to be able to give back to the organisation that gave us Journey.”
Lisa — Journey’s Mum
