It’s not work when it’s a labour of love

I love my brother. He’s worked hard all his life: Truck driver, Maintenance Supervisor; over a decade working in the frozen lands of Siberia, and the hotter-than-hell outback of Australia doing the oilpatch shuffle.

He’s been good to me.

So, when I received a message from him with a photo of a 10-week-old female St. Bernard pup along with the request to “pick her up,” I had to smile.

My brother lives on Cape Breton Island. I live in Southern Alberta. The pup, named “Bella,” was born two hours away from me, and about 3700 miles from where my brother lives. You can see the challenge.

Calls were made, questions asked, monetary compensation exchanged. It was my wife who met the breeders for the Bella handover; I arrived off the road two nights later.

I had only seen the first phase of the Bella movement from a Messenger live chat. In that exchange, I witnessed the biggest set of paws and head I’d ever seen on a “puppy,” trying to climb over the front seat of the pickup.

When I walked in the front door two nights later, I fell in love instantly. Bella was gorgeous! And for 10 weeks old…. she was huge. I couldn’t get over the size of the paws and her head. She was all the dog a man could want.

It became apparent the next morning that this pup liked to eat and drink….and eat and drink. (Rinse and repeat) all throughout the day.

In regards to rinsing and repeating, she needed a bath after a couple days. This is where I learned quickly a new law of physics: the willingness of a St. Bernard to stay in the bathtub and be washed will greatly be diminished by its desire to get the hell out of there. She got wet; I got wetter.

She ate like a horse. Walked like a dream beside me. Loved the snow. Left the White line Twins (our Japanese Chins) confused, dazed and slightly upset to the point where Riley hauled off and planted a right hook across Bella’s head that sent her flying. I was proud of Riley.

Moving a dog across the country the size of Canada takes some logistical know-how, and everything has to fall into place.

Early one morning my wife headed out on the three-hour drive to the cargo terminal at Calgary Airport, all of Bella’s paperwork in hand.

In the cold, dark, morning, we worried if Bella would make the flight safely. Would they treat her like precious cargo? Would she be upset? All those worries filled my wife and myself.

She handed the big-pawed princess over to the cargo attendant, and two hours later the 737 was airborne with Bella in her kennel in the belly of the plane.

Six hours after take-off, I received a message from my brother. Bella was safe and sound in his care at the Halifax airport.

It turns out, the unexpected task of moving a 10-week-old St. Bernard from one end of the country to the other in the grips of winter with a side of Covid restrictions thrown in wasn’t a task at all.

My wife and I played with her, wrestled with her, fed her and bathed her for the short two weeks we had her. My hands and arms filled with little cuts from her teeth. I will surely miss her but that’s okay. I love my brother.  Last year, he lost his best buddy of over 10 years. Bo, his chocolate Labrador Retriever had passed on, and I knew my brother was hurting.

I love my brother, and I miss that big-headed heartbreaker of a pup.

You see, when someone has been good to you, you want to be good to them. That’s how you help fill empty spaces in people.

Blessings

MLM