Sun, 3 Apr 2005 

Tonight I was sitting relaxing with my dogs and cats and I came to a
realisation and I was prompted to write the following poem which I would like
to share with all you wonderful people who give of yourselves so much.
 

I am surrounded by beautiful creatures.
They love me, I love them...
My heart is filled to overflowing
With the beauty of their love,
The beauty of their sharing.
My heart would burst
With the love I feel,
The love I share with them.
The love I have in my life.
I am so blessed.

Jo


Just in case you have bad eyes Judy blew up the message bubble so she could read it too!

 It was two days before Christmas, 1979.  There was a knock at the door. 
There was a man there, he was very agitated and asked did we have an Australian Terrier Puppy.
 Heart in mouth I went with him to the road and there was our Rebecca's little Kristy. 
She had somehow squeezed out of the enclosed back yard and been hit by this man's car. 
She was only four months old and very tiny.  Her breeder had nick-named her two by two 
(two inches by two inches) - she was such a tiny puppy.

I picked up our beautiful little puppy and carried her inside. 
The girls were so upset, especially Rebecca for she was her dog. 
Neville, for that was his name, was distraught.  "Where did you get her?" he asked. 
I told him he didn't have to replace her - it wasn't his fault and besides 
the breeder only had one puppy left that she was keeping for herself.
"I've got to try" he said, "It's Christmas.
The next day, Christmas Eve, Neville came to the house with a little Australian Terrier male. 
His name was Glenmeg Blue Peter and he was twice the size of Christy.
Neville placed the puppy in Rebecca's arms and told her that
the breeder had let him have him on the condition that we show him.
Christmas day Rebecca sat out the back in the paddock for much of the day just holding 
Peter and bless his little heart even though only four months old he stayed there on her lap. 
It was as if he sensed her grief and her need to come to terms with another dog. 

Two months later Rebecca and Peter entered the Portland show.  Neither had any training
but Rebecca bravely walked him in the ring.  Peter jumped and played and acted the fool 
and he gained an inglorious third out of three - but it didn't matter to Rebecca - that 
white ribbon was a thing of beauty to her.  Then they entered Child handlers - Peter 
suddenly transformed and he and Rebecca were a joy to behold.  They moved in unison 
together and amazingly, at their very first dog show, they won the Child Handlers competition.

This was the beginning, we were now bitten with the bug.  We travelled around the country 
showing dogs and learning lots about our beautiful land along the way.  It was a fantastic 
experience and we met lots of wonderful people.  A great way to see our world of Oz.
Over the years our little family grew and we became known for the quality of our little Aussies. 
We didn't breed extensively. 

We lived on a farm in Western Victoria and unfortunately in summer it was a hotbed of
poisonous snakes and even though we did our best to snake proof the dog pens we lost some 
of our animals.  The first to go was Australian Champion Curaduk Cewtaskandy.  She was only
two years old but a magnificent dog in both looks and temperament.  I rushed her to the vet 
when she became ill, didn't even know it was snakebite at the time.  She lived for over a week
and each day I went to see her.  On the seventh day she came running from the back of the vets
to see me and sat on my lap happily.  The next  day she just sighed and looked sadly at me
hardly moving at all.  I knew that she wouldn't make it and she died that night.  The blood test 
showed huge elevations in Liver enzymes, an indication of brown snake bite. Even now I miss her.
Six months later I came home to find Peter dead.  He had died protecting a bitch he was running 
with.  Somehow a snake had managed to get into the supposedly snakeproof yard.  Peter killed
the snake but died himself in the fight.  Ironically his father had died in the same manner 
protecting his mother, years before in another time and another place.  Peter was six years old.
All the other dogs were confused and so upset.  Their leader was gone. They didn't see us bury
the body. Peter's son Jack Doolan didn't seem to know how to cope.

    The howling echoes across the flatlands
    Their hearts are sad.
    Their leader is gone ....
    Stolen away by death's sharp sting
    But they don't understand.
    He held them together gently,
    Yet with hand so strong.
    Without him, they are lost -
    An aimless throng.
    Young one the pack is yours
    As was your desire.
    But you know not how to take the reins,
    In the shadow of sudden death's fire.
    1986 Josephine Tuckfield

At last, trying to help the dogs to realise what had happened, we had to take the pack around
past where Peter and Candy were buried.  The walked past in single file.  It was so amazing and 
so sad, as if they were paying tribute to their lost leader.  After that Jack Doolan 
(Aust. Ch. Curaduk Colonial Boy), took the position of leader but somehow nothing
was quite the same after that.
Not long after that, we moved to town and the marriage fell apart.  The girls and I  still continued
to show the dogs but we were breeding less now.  There are lots of stories and memories along
the way, far too many to share right now, but we managed to see a whole lot of South Australia, 
Western Victoria and parts of New South Wales. Rebecca took on the role of a breeder 
and exhibitor and formed her own kennels. The name of her kennel was Teekay from the 
name of one of our original brood bitches, Glenmeg Tiffany Kaye (Miss Piggy).

The last generation of Curaduks span from four yearold Buffy (Curaduk Vampyr Slayer)
to Boodley 15 years. (Aust. Ch. Teekay Drinking Mate). Glenmeg Killarney Kate was 
a rescue when she was just over twelve months.  She is now 12 years old. Glenmeg Miss Terrie
(Folly) is 13 years old.  The terrible twins Rocky (Curaduk Crystal Charisma) 
and Wendy (Curaduk Wendy Winsock) will both be 7 years old in May.

Buffy's litter was born to Wendy on the 24th August, 2000.   She was pre-ordered 
by a friend.  She couldn't take Buffy straight away and asked to leave her with me longer.
 By the time Buffy was three months old, said friend decided she didn't want her. 
For some reason (maybe fate, maybe intuition) I found that I didn't want to part 
with Buffy and for the next three and a half years she had a happy healthy life. 

Me, Buffy all by myself
Then in June of 2004 disaster struck.  The butcher from whom I bought my mince for
the dogs changed the mix and it was very fatty.  The dogs loved it.  But it didn't love Buffy. 
She was the only one affected.  She suddenly had an acute attack of pancreatitis
that almost killed her.  The morning I took her to the vet, she had become suddenly
extremely ill.  She had been incontinent and I tested her urine and it showed maximum sugar 
and large ketones.  She spent the next two weeks in the vets hovering for some days between
life and death.  There were lots of prayers and good wishes for Buffy from all over the world 
from my various cyber friends and also my land friends in Mount Gambier. Thankfully she 
survived and after a long and harrowing time trying to stabilise her on caninsulin, in February
she was changed to NPH or protophane as it is known here in Australia.  She is still getting far
from ideal numbers but she is within a reasonable range and happy and healthy and regained 
the weight she lost.  When she was spayed in November of 2004 she weight 4kg. 
She is now a solid 7kg and is starting to grow  back some of the lost hair.

In January of this year I found the rainbow bridge group and in particular Margo Hupe.  I only 
wish I had found them sooner.  The support of this group has been wonderful.  When I needed 
help with research it was there.  When I needed support they were with me. I also appreciate 
my good vet Rex Clarke who has been open enough to look at alternative treatments.  He has 
been there for us all through the years and tried his hardest to save our Candy girl way back in 
1985 and many other occasions over the years and has been there for Buffy through all of this.

We are all living here in Mount Gambier in a very nice cottage with a huge back yard and three
crazy cats.  Sam 16 years, Stimpy around 5 years and Winsome Winnie just over twelve months.
 Sometimes there are fish in our pond but we have none right now.

I am gathering new recipes for the site and Jo has sent what 
she is feeding Buffy in Australia so it is in metric.
Thanks for sharing Jo....Judy
http://www.petdiabetes.com/recipes.html
 

Update! Update! Update!
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 
Subject: BUFFY 2ND SUGARVERSARY 

Hi all 2 years ago today (10th June) I was diagnosed with diabetes.  I was going to get up and celebrate but there was frost on the ground. So I went back to bed.  Mum made me wear the beanie so that my ears were warm for the blood test. She took a photo of me.  Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006  Buffy's diet has changed again.  She doesn't have the rice any more as her post prandial isn't a drop it is now a rise.  Some days she's up and some days she's down and she's all higgeldy piggeldy but..... she doesn't go too bloody high or too bloody low most of the time she sits between 126 and 300 with occasional reading outside of that.  That seems to be the best we can do.  I've tried increasing her insulin but if we go beyond 2.5 units at a time she hypos.  If we go under 2.0 she goes too high.  I figure she is pretty healthy.  She is just starting to get cataracts and I guess getting those at almost six years of age after having two years as a diabetic understandable.  She can still see really well and runs like a hare around the place.  Her mother and aunty (Wendy and Rocky) at eight years still have very clear eyes with no signs.  Mostly they don't get them until they are much older (more than twelve) but I guess we have to accept what is and what we can afford to do and go with that. 750 gm of very lean beef mince  1 kg of green beans  500 gram of mixed vegetables (supermarket standard mix)  2 cups of pearl barley Buffy is now on 1 cup three times a day as she has 2.5 nph BID and the recipe lasts 7days.

Update! Update! Update!
Buffy's Seventh Birthday!
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 


Buffy's Photo Album

This is a collage of the older dogs from 1979 on.
Boodley and Kate and Folly are in the collage with the 'oldies' 
as they are really an integral part of that era.
Just as a matter of interest, the photo of Kristy was taken the day she died.

Long long long ago........................

Thought you might like this one.  Shows the girls and Jack, Misty and Miss Piggy.
 

This is Winsome Winnie  - she's only pretending to be fierce.	Last but not least  Jo having a little loving  with my Grandma Folly
My good friends Sam and Stimpy	This is me helping Ric to win the video game  by bothering Zac while he is playing  (That's Rocky on the pillow).

Only in Australia .... How a cat goes down a tree Down Under Check out Stimpy!