Category Archives: The Dogs

Sick Poppie

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Having got the dogs here and then having had them treated for various things that might affect them in the UK and Italy, Poppie’s body finally said  – enough.

One unhappy little dog

It was the most innocuous treatment – essentially an English version of Frontline – that proved the last straw and saw her transform from a happy little dog to a very agitated, unhappy and unwell dog in the space of 2 hours.

For the last 5 days she has only wanted to sit on someone’s lap or hide herself among the pillows on the bed.  The world has held no interest for her and she just wanted everyone to go away and let her be.

After 3 trips to vet and a total bill of £250, we were none the wiser but were armed with skin washes, antihistamines and antibiotics, all the things that might help.

But in the end it was time that did the trick.  But it’s fair to say we will be looking for an alternative treatment for fleas and other crawlies for Poppie in the future.

The Dogs

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“You’re taking your dog?  No, really?” was pretty much the standard reaction we got when we told people the whole family was travelling to Italy.  For these of you who don’t know, our family consists of Daisy and Poppie – Bichon Frise dogs which can best be described as small, white, fluffy with attitude.

Thanks to the team at VenturePet in New Zealand, Jean’s diligent research on moving dogs around the world and around $5,000 they made the trip to the UK.

Heathrow's Animal Reception Centre

After we arrived at Heathrow, collected our bags and collected our new Peugeot lease car we drove to the aptly named “Animal Reception Centre” to collect the girls.

This was where all the paperwork, vaccinations and research came together.  The wait seemed eternal as other people received their dogs or cats but there was no sign of our girls.  There was nothing we could do, we just waited.

Waiting, waiting, waiting ...

The process was complicated by a computer failure at the centre, but eventually we signed everything we needed to and two noisy happy dogs emerged from the bowels of the building.

In true Bichon style we heard them before we saw them but when they arrived the reception centre lobby turned into a sea of swirling white Bichons much to our relief and the amusement of everyone else.

They're here!

A week later they are displaying no ill effects from the trip apart from a little jet-lag.  In fact as I write this, they are both spread eagled on the bed beside me snoring happily.

Jean was so organised before we left that we had an appointment with a vet in our local village.  They have now had check ups and we are going through the process of ensuring they are safe from all the bugs that we don’t have in New Zealand, but they do have here – and in Italy.

They also have been issued with genuine EU Pet Passports – so roll on Italy.

English Country Garden Stuff

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The weather we have been having in England has been amazing. Warm sunny days, real shorts and T-shirts weather – ideal for a play in the garden.

To that end, Jean was trying to get Poppie to run around and play but Poppie clearly had other ideas.

Every journey starts with a single step. This is ours.

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Italy is about as far from New Zealand as you can get – both geographically and culturally. We’ve experienced wonderful holidays it Italy for the last decade and the nagging question has always been – what would it be like to live there?

The only way to answer that question was to step out of our comfortable lives in New Zealand and into whatever a life in Italy has to offer. We did that on Wednesday April 6, 2011.

It sounds easy if you say it quickly. But it meant leaving behind family and jobs, renting out our house, storing our precious things and, most importantly, bringing our girls Poppie and Daisy along for the trip.

Poppie and Daisy are our dogs. Small, furry, white Bichon Frise. And they are definitely part of our family.

So what sounded so simple to say turned out to be a tad more complicated and I’m sure the fun is only beginning.