RIP Biskit.

 ♥ 

 

I am not entirely certain where my obsession with dogs came from, but somewhere early along the line I developed a great love for those 4 legged (sometimes 3!) balls of love that want nothing more than to cuddle up with you and be stroked.

I can recall in Year 3 starting a scrapbook of dog pictures that I cut out from the newspaper or magazines and treasuring it dearly. My best friend at the time had 2 dogs, and I was insanely jealous - despite one of them being a snappy little maltese terrier. To this day I still don't really rate small white dogs!

 All (frequent) pleas for a dog fell on deaf ears for many years, as my mum wasn't a huge fan and didn't want the mess and hassle of a dog. I was, however, allowed to keep fish, and grew somewhat attached to them, moping for days when any of them carked it. But my heart still yearned for a softer pet.


At 13 my Dad chose to be made redundant after 35+ years of service at Hamersley Iron (a division of Rio Tinto), and we made the big move from Tom Price to Perth. Absolutely devastated doesn't begin to cover it, and as an already fairly shy bookworm, I didn't thrive in my new surroundings, which just so happened to be the biggest school in the state.


Finding it hard to make friends, and hating school for the first time in my life, I became more and more anxious and unhappy with my life. Of course I was a 13-14 year old at the time, the height of emotional turbulence and awkwardness, but this was probably something a little more.


My parents were fixing up our house at the time, and enjoyed heading out to all the boring places on the weekend: kitchen and bathroom supplies stores, renovator wonderlands and carpet showrooms AKA hell-on-earth for a teenager.

At the time, "Get over yourself, Dawson" was a favoured saying. Sometimes it still makes an appearance. Pacey on the other hand can do whatever he likes.

Since I had nothing better to do most weekends, sometimes I tagged along - but most of the time I spent playing computer games or completing 'Dawson's Creek' quizzes on the internet. No judgement on the last point, please.


One weekend my parents were heading out to look at some taps for our new bathroom, zzz, and asked if I would like to come with. Clearly not, but the bribe of the icecream that came next was enough to get me to submit and off we went.


After randomly driving for 15-20 minutes my parents turned around to me and said "we're not really going to look at taps, we're going to buy a dog". I couldn't believe it, and asked them "REALLY?" about 10 times before even believing them 5%. I was crying a little bit, kinda like Dawson above, because it was such a surreal moment.


My parents knew that I was having a rough time, and thought that a dog might cheer me up and help get me back on track.


We went to about three dog shelters that day looking for a suitable new friend. One lady yelled at us and told us to go away. The other shelters all had larger dogs and my Mum was only willing to concede to a small-medium dog. While we were at the Shenton Park Dog's Home, I saw a small golden English Cocker Spaniel walk out from the boarders section (so she wasn't for sale) - but then I knew that it was the type of dog for me! My dad had a black spaniel years earlier and was happy with that decision too.


We went to a breeder later that day, and I chose an orange and white pup. Best day ever!


At first I wanted to call him "Eli", although I have no idea why, but my mum said no because it was "too religious" (lol?). We decided on Biskit because he kind of looked like one, and we wanted the spelling to be a bit different.


From then on I was definitely a lot happier, his floppy ears, general adorableness and the way he lay next to my bedroom door in the morning was a source of joy for me.


Sadly he passed away at the age of six due to a liver problem, but he will always be in my heart and my dad keeps a photograph of him next to his computer :)


Biskit, Thank you. I will love you always. xox