I met Ginger in 1997 when she was 11 months old and immediately I knew she was my dog. I had been thinking of getting a dog for a few years and one day I opened the paper and my eyes were drawn to an ad for adoption. I should have cut it out and saved it, thinking of it now makes me laugh. The ARF foundation was fairly new and a dog who had been rescued from one of the reserve rescue trips had several puppies and one of whom had been adopted out to a family that was overwhelmed by a new dog and new human babies and the family returned the dog to ARF to be re-adopted. She was as they described, part Great Dane and part Lab and her name was Ginger.
I called Laurie Flavin who was the founder of ARF and she arranged to meet me at the park for an introduction. I asked Linda if she would come with Angel, her German Shepherd so that Angel could give us her opinion as well.
The dogs got on famously and from the very first greeting they were life long friends. They were so close it was as if they were spiritual twins. They never tired of each other's company all through their lives and even shared each other's bones.
Ginger looked like a shepard crossed with a rottweiler. There was no Great Dane. We thought she was beautiful.
The next night I brought Bryan to Laurie's house to meet our dog. He didn't know it at the time but I was determined that she belonged to us. Bryan was armed with cheese in his pockets.
She approached him timidly and as Laurie's pack moved through the house Ginger stuck to them. She growled at us as she went past. I thought surely she will realize that we were her true pack. No, off she went thinkng she would have nothing more to do with us.
The next day after talking it over we called Laurie and she brought Ginger to our house. As Laurie slipped away through the door Ginger panic'd and ran to the window to watch her drive away. She wimpered and came right back to me and kissed me on the cheek. I took that as a "lets give this relationship a try" kiss.
I had never had a dog before and knew nothing of the creatures, She had never had me before and knew nothing of us. Together we learned. She to understand English and me to open my heart to her.
We went everywhere together. She would patiently wait out my client appointments in the back seat of the car and then the van and then an SUV and then a cross over.
We walked miles and miles and miles together. We explored back roads and highways and side tracks. She showed us so many things on our road trip holidays that we would never have noticed without her. She used her nose where ever she went and she taught us to stop still and listen and look.
Together we have been as far as Prince Rupert to the California Redwoods. We have walked wild and windy beaches on the west coast of Vancouver island and we have trudged along the banks of the Saskatchewan river in Nipiwin and floated in the swimming holes of the Kananaskis Sheep river. We have been in snow drifts that covered our heads and hot summer days panting in the shade under a tree. We have shared every hamburger I have ever had and I learned to make a chicken stew that she adored.
Everyday she defended us against delivery people, plastic bags, squirrels and rabbits. She was courageous and brave and always the first at the door to take on an imagined intruder.
We gardened together, and she learned to eat raspberries from the bush without getting attacked by thorns. She lay at our feet under the table at meals, she watched for us at the front window and was so happy to see us return. We made friends through her and we met Angel and Toto and Nikki andTrevor and Charlie and Boo and Ben and Clover and Teddy and Jimmy and Lexi and their attendant humans.
I will miss you my dear sweet kind friend.
(Ginger passed away September 21, 2011 at 1:20 pm. She spent her last morning walking with Bryan and I along the Bow river and even took a drink and a little swim at her favourite place.
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