The picture above is of Roonie with our Hungarian Vizslas Toby and Lily. Early in his life, Toby needed some training, like most dogs do. His dog trainer was the owner of an indoor heated pool for dogs and I used to take him there regularly and witness the dogs in the pool.
One day the trainer decided to put the business up for sale, and because I was already familiar with the benefits of having access to an indoor pool my husband and I decided to buy it. I could see how the hydrotherapy combined with physiotherapy could improve the results and the lives of so many more dogs. So if it weren’t for Toby, we would never have started the first rehab centre for dogs in Australia!
We have had many dogs come and go in our lives. Toby pictured here on the left sadly died at 4 years of age from severe, uncontrolled epilepsy. Lily, the little girl Vizsla was my ‘soul dog’. She touched a part of my heart with her sweetness and spunk, but sadly left too early at age 11 due to cancer.
Rescue dog Roonie, despite her challenges, lived to the ripe old age of 13! We have had the pleasure of sharing our lives with a rescue Collie called Lassie who died at 13, and our beautiful Boxer boy who was a re-homed doggie ‘Henry’ who passed at the young age of 4 from a brain tumour.
We have known much love, but also much heartache and it never gets any easier. Like everyone I meet, we all wish our fur babies could be with us longer and this is what drives me on a daily basis.
Currently, the furry component of our family consists of Oscar the Vizsla, who was re-homed to us at 1 and is now 9 and thankfully as fit as a fiddle. And our other boy Maximus, another Vizsla, just turned 3. Max is the first pup we’ve raised in many years. What fun that’s been!
Maximus is a typical crazy young Vizsla, in love with his pal Oscar, can often be seen lazing on the couch with his humans! As a family, along with our two gorgeous 2 legged kids, we love the beach, the park, and just hanging out and of course, our four-legged canines are always part of everything we do.
So, as you can see we’ve had our fair share of great loves, happiness, heartaches, huge vet bills, and the loss of several dogs. This is all part of life with a dog and this understanding and passion is the basis of everything we do at Dogs In Motion.
Life with a dog is not always happy, and not always fair, but every dog owner agrees that any challenges along the way are far outweighed by the bottomless pit of unconditional love that all dogs have to share.
Well, that’s a bit about our fur family. So now when you see me at the clinic you’ll know a bit more about us.
Thanks for following along and we look forward to supporting you and your canine(s) in sharing many more years of happy and healthy memories together.
Michelle & Greg
