two years has gone by ......

above: Janine took this image of Oscar on 7th Oct 2006

memories of Oscar

our very special little boy

28 March 1998 - 23 May 2012


We lost a special friend today
the kind you can't replace,
and looking at his empty bed
We still can see his smiling face.

  We see the endless energy
the sparkling puppy eyes,
Not the tired, fragile friend
we had to bid goodbye.

  We know he's in a special place
our Lord has for such friends,
Where meadows, fields & flowers
help make them strong and whole again.

We will remember how he'd run to us
to play his favorite puppy game,
And how his ears would perk right up
When he heard us call his name.

But as those precious years went by
And we all aged and grew,
  we found him often slowing down
But we had still so much to do.

We have noticed in the recent times
His ears were not as sharp,
Where is that running ball of fur
The years have shown their mark.

He started sleeping next to us
Was this his special clue,
Because he felt the end was near
We certainly feel that it was very true

  Our Oscar was a special boy
  We know he gave his best,
But as we looked deep into his eyes
  we knew it was the time for him to rest.

It will truly be a struggle
  we don't know how we will face each day,
  we have to let him go - we know
But in our hearts he'll always stay.

This special place our Lord has made
Health and strength, wait for him there,
So with our very special friend
  we are sending all our prayers.

For we  know he's watching over us
and he'll be with us when we cry,
So with one more kiss on his beloved head
  we told our darling boy 

goodbye.

the above is very much the same I wrote out for Zac and also for Pokey.

above: when Oscar was just a tiny little puppy

 

Oscars brother – Pokey - was born in January 1997. 

Then in March 1998, along came Oscar. But sadly 5 days after he and his 3 siblings were born, their mother – Sugar - passed away.

Oscar was 55 grams in weight ....that is the weight of one medium sized egg!
 

These four little five day old puppies ......  what to do? Even the Vet said they would not survive.  

But with the love and care devoted upon them, they survived ... each and everyone of them.

Yes, Oscar is a fighter, his true name is Sugar Ray Robinson (one of the great boxers of all time [1921-1989]) and as with all four puppies, they were named after a famous 'fighter'.

In 2002 we took Oscar and Pokey on a 12 mths holiday traveling all over Australia.

above: in 2002, he used Pokey when he needed some extra height  to see outside the motorhome!

  

In 2005 he had an eye infection and had to have major surgery to have the lens replaced in his eye.

In 2007 both Pokey and Oscar flew to Singapore.

In 2009 he pulled one of his nails out when it caught in his collar, more surgery!

In 2011 Oscar lost his brother Pokey (7th July) and he grieved more than we thought was possible.

Two weeks later we took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with Pituitary Dependent Hyperadrenocorticism. (Cushings Disease) and a month later they found he also had Congestive Heart Failure.

He started off on his medication twice a day, but over the past month it was increased to three times a day. 

In December 2011 we applied for a permit for his re entry into Australia and this was declined due to his health and age.

We wrote a long letter to AQIS (Australian Quarantine) explaining a bit more about Oscar and that he was a fighter and that he would survive the flight, but could possibly struggle with the 30 days of Quarantine. But we were willing to take the risk as we felt he would be OK.

30 minutes later, we rec'd the permit and he was allowed to return to Australia!

He left Singapore on 21st February 2012 and arrived the following morning at the AQIS station in Spotswood where he stayed for the full 30 days.

above: running around while in Quarantine at Spotswood.

 

above: with John when he was in Quarantine

He was very happy to be back with us and settled in very well. We knew we wouldn't have him forever and the vet thought he might survive till mid April .... but we managed to have him for a full two months at home.

We brought him home to Ballan on 23 March 2012.

above: in April 2012 he got to go to Blackwood again where he used to chase lizards 

with his brother Pokey.

One of his favourite things to do was "get in the car". It was such a novelty for him to be able to travel around and he loved it. The minute we picked up the keys, he was waiting at the front door!

On Sunday (20 May 2012) he was chasing the Magpies outside, on Monday (21 May) he traveled with us in the car to Bendigo for the day. On Monday evening his breathing became erratic and through the course of the night we realised his time was coming to an end.

above: photo taken at 12 noon on 22 May 2012 (18 hours before he passed away) as he lay in the 

lounge room in the sunshine

On the Tuesday (22 May 2012)  he really struggled with his breathing, one minute hyperventilating and the next 'shallow breathing'. I was too selfish to take him to the vet after what we went though with Pokey, but at 3.15am the following morning while I was nursing him in the lounge ..... I knew we had no choice but to call the vet as soon as we got up.

We took him back to bed with us and we held him till he closed his eyes at 6:10am on 23rd May 2013.

Letting him go was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, unbearably difficult.

He was a special friend I will never forget. 

I know we were blessed to have had him for so long, possibly more than his fair share of life expectancy.

above: John took this photo - Tuesday 22 May 2012

Rest in Peace Oscar 

(Sugar Ray Robinson), 

you fought the good fight right till the end.

we all loved you so much

you were one very special little dog

there will never be another like you.


its now been two years since our little man left us 

and we can honestly say, we miss him every single day.
 

He did leave a huge hole in our hearts 

and life will never be the same again.
23 May 2014

.

.

 

Oscar's visit to Blackwood.

It's been a busy week, but on Wednesday we took some time out to go up to Blackwood, an old historical village on the Lerderderg River.  Blackwood is 89 klms from Melbourne in Victoria, Australia and where we have a small holiday place. It is also where gold was discovered on Jan 4 1855

Blackwood is only 20 minutes from Ballan, so it was a quick trip there to pick up a few things. It was very cold and wet, but we still had to go.

On our arrival we let Oscar out of the car to 'explore'.... this is where he and Pokey chased lizards nearly every weekend and after doing that all day long they were exhausted, so they lazed in front of the fire with Zac (Janines dog).

above: Zac, Oscar and Pokey at Blackwood on March 13 2005.

But we watched Oscar running around, sniffing here and there and we wondered how much he remembered of previous visits so many years ago?

above: Pokey and Oscar looking for lizards in January 2007 at Blackwood.

below: Oscar running around the front area of Blackwood in May 2012

His nose was "working overtime" while there, did he know where he was?  Can he remember Pokey or Zac at all?

We are happy we got to take him to Blackwood again.

He has settled in at Ballan very well, he is still on medication three times a day and sometimes has difficulty breathing, but overall he seems to be happy. The vet says he is in no pain, but to just watch him closely.

We had a 'doggie door' installed into the laundry door on Thursday and already he uses it. We thought it might take a week or two for him to get used to something so 'new'. But with a little encouragement he was in and out of it within the first hour and now takes himself outside when ever he needs to.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

We are happy that he got to "come home" and also that he has now been to Blackwood as well.

No one knows what tomorrow will bring, but with loads of love and care, we hope he is with us for sometime yet!


postnote: Oscar passed away in John's arms at 6:10am on 23 May 2012


.

OSCAR = March 13 2012

YouTube clip of Oscar - our Tenterfield Terrier - at the Quarantine Station today:


OSCAR - March 13 2012

Just to see him running around is a joy!!

Better still, its nice to know he has only 10 more days there. Due for release on March 23 2012, just one day before he turns 14.

10 sleeps ......

still in Singapore and its now Tuesday Feb 14th.....

So not long before we depart, in fact just 10 sleeps.  Oscar flys out next Tuesday evening and arrives in Melbourne at 6.00am on Wednesday Feb 22 when - hopefully - the Australian Quarantine people will be there to pick him up and take him to Spotswood Center.

He will be there for one month, not sure how we are going to cope with that, let alone Oscar!!

 

 Oscar in the crate in the lounge here in Singapore!

We have the crate here in the lounge so he gets used to it being around and by the time he needs to spend at least 10 hours in it, he will be used to it and it won't be too stressful for him. Though we know he will fret as he will not be around us and he needs his people, be it John, myself or Yvonne.... he has always been around people and after losing his brother in July last year he is even more dependent.

But we are doing our best, so fingers crossed he will be well enough to travel and strong enough to take the flight and the 30 days of quarantine.

In the meantime, we are doing last minute purchases of items we cannot get in Australia and if we can, it would be too expensive!  The removalists arrive on Wednesday morning of next week and apparently will take about 5 hours to pack. We have a 20' container and will probably take up about 17 cbm ....  can't afford to buy anything else anyway, so thats it!

The shipment is packed on the 22nd, then it goes back to the removalists warehouse to add our shipment from Batam - furniture from our villa there - then the container will 'probably' depart Singapore by about Feb 28th. We have been told it will take just on 3 weeks for it to arrive in Melbourne but it will sit on the docks till the Australian customs can get around to checking everything. Which apparently is about 2 weeks. If there is nothing needing to be done like fumigation etc then we should be expecting the shipment at our home in Ballan by the first week of April.

This will be the exciting part, the removalists will be unpacking of course so all we need to do is 'supervise' where everything is to be placed. At this stage we really don't have much of an idea as to where everything will go as we have only seen the house once and that was last December when we spent an hour or so just going through everything and measuring rooms.

Its hard saying goodbye to all our friends here, but we know we will see most of them again at some stage ...... but we need to look to our future too and start to think of new friendships and settling in to our new home.

Will keep you posted on events as they happen......

map of where Ballan is located ... Melbourne is to the right off the map. That's for all my friends here in Singapore!!

one door closes another will open!

we are still here in Singapore sorting, packing and generally getting ready to repatriate to Australia .... and then on to Ballan.

We were very apprehensive about moving to a small town after the vibrancy of Singapore, but starting to come to terms with the move and just today we talked about the new adventures that await us ....

its a bit like as one door closes another will open!

There has been a lot involved in the move back to Australia, there is the sorting through all our belongings and arranging for a removalist to get everything shipped back.


We have a villa in Indonesia and there are quite a few things (including furniture) we need from there that has to be shipped to Singapore in time to be shipped to Melbourne with the rest of our things on February 21. But the hold up is on the Indonesian end .... so we wait and wait .... and wait some more, for they need to decide when this is going to happen. In the meantime we are getting a little stressed as each day goes by and the time is getting closer. We want some definite dates!

I have recently uploaded a blog post on packing - or more to the point - what not to pack on my other blog. You may care to read that posting here: Living in Singapore.

John has been extra busy getting his business up and running. With his deep appreciation of cultural diversity in Asia and Australia's changing role in the region, I can see his  business leaping ahead!

John Fabre and Associates is a boutique agency focused on how consumers and businesses can genuinely benefit from our changing world. I choose to work with associates in applying creative, communication and business management skills to align brand aspirations and consumer needs in an experience consumption driven world. We all bring different skill sets.
 

 

                                 Oscar

Oscar (our Tenterfield Terrier) now has his flight booked for February 20 and will be in Quarantine at the Spotswood Quarantine Station for one month.  This particular part of the move has been incredibly stressful for us both .... Oscar will be 14 years old in March and has a few health issues. The Australian Quarantine were not happy to allow his entry into Australia, citing his health issues on such a long flight. We have written to them explaining in great detail that even though he is old and has health problems, he is quite 'the fighter' and will survive the flight. We have agreed to a private vet assess him on arrival and accept all conditions they have placed on the permit that we now have.

We came to Singapore with two Tenterfield Terriers - our boys were brothers, they had the same parents - but Pokey died last July  we know that Oscar really has to go HOME and if we don't try, we will never know. We feel it is worth the risk, so long as he is not in any pain.


If you could see him running up and down the stairs here, there is no way he looks 'old'. The carer (from K9 Kennels) came today to bring the crate for Oscar to get used to. Even he was saying how healthy he looked and was playing with him. We are praying all will be well for him to travel home on February 20 and that he survives the following month in quarantine. We are allowed to visit him twice a week ... that is going to be hard on the three of us ... but lets hope that time goes by very quickly!!

Once he is out of there it will be party time ...... for it will be his 14th birthday!!

So yes .... we are packing and sorting getting ready for our move back to Australia and eventually to Ballan.  There is a lot of planning still to be done, but as one door closes another will open!  We have no idea what that open door will show us......

but we are ready for that next adventure!