"China" Dog - Always With Me

China is a rescue dog, we got her in early 2009 from a local rescue centre.


The idea to get her was so that she would keep our elderly dog "Chester" a Parsons terrier company in his old age. I'm afraid on this laptop I don't have a picture of "Chester" so will have to try and dig one out.


"Chester" was a real character, full of life, with a big ego and attitude! Then one day whilst at the Netley Marsh Steam Rally, he was attacked by two other dogs, shook so violently by them that his spine was broken at the base of his skull!


He was on a short rope outside of our caravan at the time, we didn't hear a thing, only a small yelp as he was flung and landed just to the rear of our caravan.


We rushed out to see what had happened to find "Chester" lying still, but alive. The two dogs involved were, well, you would never guess in a million years, they were Golden Retrievers!


We had a witness to the attack and she was distraught with what she saw.


The owners were besides themselves, the lady owner saw the attack as well!


The upshot of all of this was that we eventually had him referred to a specialist vet just outside of Ringwood. Insurance was taking care of expenses which was just as well as the final bill came to just under £8000.00 !!!!


After an 8 hour operation to reattach his head to his neck, he was in a full body cast for weeks, lost weight and got depressed. Now if you have never seen a depressed dog it is not a good sight. But with lots of care and attention, we managed to nurse him back to health, it took the best part of 4 months.


I used to push him around in a push chair to get some fresh air! I took him to work with me and he would lay in my arms looking up at me whilst I tapped keys.


We really didnt know if he would walk again, but we gave it everything we could, eventually he started to eat, we hand fed him chicken and salmon, he ate better than us!


But, he was a fighter, and he started to make progress, eventually he walked with only a slight limp! He had another year and a bit with us after his accident.


Sadly he passed away in his sleep one night, totally heart breaking for us both.


We still had "China" who kept us going, and she has been my constant companion since we have had her.


She goes everywhere with me, and is generally well behaved, but she does have a wild streak, and if she gets on the scent of something she is off. So we have to be careful with her, and generally keep her on a lead. But, to be honest she is good off of it, and will come back when called, well I say come back, she usually rolls onto her back in total submission!


She is very sociable and unless curled up asleep on our bed she wants to either be sat next to you or preferably on you!


At night she has her own bed next to ours, good job she is a small dog as there is not a lot of room, just right for her, and she has several cushions and a blanket over her at night. She doesn't like the cold at all!


Unless the duvet slips off our bed and covers her, keeping her roasty warm, she stays put, but I can put money on it that if it doesn't she jumps onto our bed in the early hours and snuggles between us. I generally wake up to find her snoring in my ear, for a little dog she sure does snore loud!


"China" is a cross breed - a cross between a Chiwahwah and a Corgi, an unusual combination, she is an unusual dog!

A pretty little thing, well, we think so!


When she came to us she came with the name of Sandy, which was obviously not her real name as she didn't react to being called it at all! So we had to think of a new name quickly.


Sat in our local Chinese restaurant, called "China Cottage" we came up with the name of "China" went home and said the name and she immediately looked up! So that's how she got her name!

Time now is 0945 and she has still not moved from our bed! Curled up and snoring away! She is not a morning dog.


She settled well into living in a caravan full time well, all though I don't think it would of been so easy for us if she had been any bigger!


She is not keen on small kids and if anyone runs by her she wants to eat them. Some times she just doesn't like someone, even if bearing treats and will just bark at them. That's the same with dogs as well, she is quite black and white with her likes and dislikes. Strange dog.


Do we spoil her? What do you think! We try not to, but I guess she is, but she is our dog, and a big part of our lives.

You can also see that when we got her (1st Pic) she was very young, and she has since filled out a little! We were told she was 2yrs old, clearly not, she is almost twice the size from when we first got her. Personally I think she was very young, maybe only a 3 or 4 months old.

That's "China" a small dog with a big personality.

Till later...............