A Magnificent Dog

Nik and I had bought a lovely German shepherd from a policeman on the mainland, and it wasn’t long before the hunt was on to find the perfect mate for her. I had heard about a lady named Sarifa Patel who raised pure-bred German shepherds in Barbados, and decided to give her a call to see if she had any pups for sale. Sarifa informed me that she didn’t have any small pups, but might be willing to part with an eight-month-old male named Robbie. She made it quite clear that she would have to meet me before agreeing to the sale, so I booked a flight to Barbados and fell in love at first sight.

Robbie was a gorgeous dog but, as Sarifa raised the shepherds for showing purposes, he simply didn’t make the grade. His nose was just a titch too pointed and his colouring wasn’t quite right, he had a lot of silver in his coat and was therefore not suitable for German shepherd dog shows. Robbie was beautiful, already very large at eight months, and I was determined to buy him. Sarifa was reluctant to sell; I had to convince her that I had no intention of showing ANY dog let alone Robbie, and after quite a bit of persuasion she agreed to organize the necessary paper-work and transportation to Bequia.

Getting Robbie to Bequia proved problematic. He had to arrive in a cage and, because of his size, it was a BIG cage, too big for the small planes flying between Bequia and Barbados. I was on the point of giving up all hope when Art Taylor, the man who flew into Bequia empty each week to collect lobster, agreed to carry Robbie on his next run. Problem solved! Art landed with the dog (a rather STONED dog, he had been heavily sedated for the flight), and Robbie quickly became a part of our lives.

Robbie was a gentle giant, a bit of a “wuss” actually, and made the perfect mate for Roxie. The female was the better watch-dog but Robbie, because of his size and deep bark, was the bigger deterrent. One day a truck delivering something to the house arrived and Robbie, not liking the looks of the henchman, calmly closed his jaws around the fellow’s privates! He didn’t hurt the young man, it was just his way of warning him not to go any closer to the house, a warning that was taken very much to heart by the helpless henchman.

Nik loved Robbie, and the feeling was mutual. I would watch as the two silently communicated, no words were necessary while Nik trained his dog. It wasn’t long before Roxie and Robbie made beautiful puppies, puppies that were either sold or given to good homes. Roxie was quite a bit older than Robbie, and when she sadly passed away we bought another female named Pepper. We gave one of their pups to our daughter Rachel when she and Menno were married on Bequia, a gift they took home to their farm in Canada and named “Jello”.  

I was away from Bequia when Robbie died, and was heart-broken when I got the news. I was assured that he had died “a very happy dog”, and watched Pepper closely to see if we would be blessed with some post-humous puppies! Alas, Pepper was not pregnant, the days of Robbie’s puppies had come to an end. However, one of the puppies we had given away had been brought up by young Josh Gooding on the mainland, and he had bred his German shepherd with a pure-bred Akita. Nik arranged for me to have one of the female pups, a lovely dog I (how original!) named “Akita”. She was (and still is) a great pet, smart as a whip and, when Josh’s dogs had another litter of pups, I got a male to keep her company. I named him “Buster”, and the two dogs have grown old together. Buster reminds me a lot of his grand-father; he’s a gentle giant, a bit of a “wuss” actually, and he’s been the perfect companion for Akita. It’s always sad when pets pass away. Buster and Akita are quite old now, and don’t move about as quickly as they used to. I dread the day when a part of Robbie is no longer with us, he was truly a magnificent dog.

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