This week: Surprising little hero
One of my favourite breeds of dog has always been the Pomeranian. I have had 16 of them in my life, not all together mind you. I only have one left and he just turned the ripe old age of 19 in July this year; his and my soul mate, another Pomeranian, passed away earlier this year aged 18. And yes, that is human years.
As a breed they have an exceedingly poor and undeserved reputation for being noisy and useless. The latter seems to be a general bias to some or all toy breed dogs. It is far from the truth and I have a story about a brave Pomeranian to tell today.
Describing the temperament of a breed in general is fraught with generalisation. As with horoscope descriptions it tends to be a generalisation which could apply to any breed, but with Pomeranians it rings quite true. They are an undeniably charming breed that can worm their way into the hearts of those that don't normally like toy dogs. They are surprisingly independent and confident with bountiful amounts of energy. They are brave and surprisingly intelligent and can be trained to do tricks easily. They can be fiercely loyal and may provoke dogs much larger than themselves. Because of this defiant personality, puppies that are not trained or socialised properly at an early stage can become rather dominant and stubborn. Children love Pomeranians, but as a breed they tend to be a little too delicate for kids and will become impatient and even snap if threatened.
My initial attraction to Pomeranians was the same as most people - I found them cute and cuddly and then quickly found out their loyal and intelligent personality. But my undying love for the breed occurred when I heard and got involved in a friend's Pomeranian story. In Australia, bush fires are common in the summer. When they get out of control and occur near urban populations it can get very dangerous very quickly.
During the summer school breaks when I was young I would often head off to my friend Martin's place out in the bush. He lived about 600km northwest of Melbourne where his family had a homestead in the middle of a eucalyptus forest. They owned horses and it was a rare chance for urban-bound me to come in contact with these magnificent animals. But there was another animal on the homestead that I longed to see every year and it was his ever-restless Pomeranian named Joo Joo. The little dog was cute and seemed totally out of place in the wilds of Australia but it still seemed to thrive there. I could spend a whole day lazing on the verandah watching this little dog chase off wild cats, dig holes and prance about like he owned the place. He would chase dragonflies, examine rabbit burrows and mark his territory among his dingo neighbours. If you called out to him, he would wag his tail and come straight over thinking he was going to be an invaluable help. He was just a remarkable dog. I adored him.