First came Micky. He came to me when I had just started living on my own, and what I never expected happened anyway. I was choked with homesickness for my parents and sister's house. I had always said that I would like to have a pet, but because I still worked all day then a cat would be better than a dog, so after 3 weeks of crying, my sister got tired of it and dragged me to the animal shelter, unfortunately that was closed, I cried even harder, because that was bad too ( ;-) ). But sister knew another address, so stop crying and go to Tonies, and when we got there, we actually had to walk to the back, but in the front were the dogs and when I saw them, I was sold immediately. No not a cat, but a dog!! There were 3 dogs that were for sale and he let them all out of their kennel, and the funny little dog that came to give a kiss every x, that had to be him! So I'm completely happy, because I had found my brand new roommate. A cute little dog with a pink nose, very dark eyes and a funny face.
This is our mother with then still nameless dog, my mother was allowed to choose his name and that became Micky because of his large ears on his small head. So it was going to be Micky and he has given me / us a lot of fun and love in his relatively long life.
a few years later
In 2007, after the death of both our parents, I moved to a house. But because Micky could no longer go to our parents during the day, he became lonely and started to cry during the day when I was working. So a boyfriend or girlfriend for Micky had to come. That was in the first instance Myla, a cross of Malinois / Dutch Shepherd, she was super cute but also a handfull. Only at that time I started to suffer more and more from my arms / hands and I could not always give her what she needed. And when my sister and I moved in together in 2009, things went well. She had Rowan, her great love and I had Micky and Myla, so together we now had 3 dogs, which was not always appreciated by our neighbors in Schaijk then, after half a year we moved to Nistelrode, we came to live there next to people who had 4 dogs of their own, so we certainly didn't expect any problems in that area. But 3 dogs is a difficult number, because who do you let out with whom and who has to walk alone with mommy??
again some years past by
So a 4th had to be added and yes, I had indicated, ok, fine, but then a small one, because with those arms of mine I can't always go for a walk with such a strong dog like Rowan or Myla. So a little one. Sis went looking and found a little one in Groningen, about 2.5 hours drive from us, but well, you have to pay something for it ;-). An Australian Shepherd, but then the Toy variant.
And once in Groningen it turned out that they had several litters, but that there was only 1 dog for sale, happened to be a red merle female and that was exactly what I liked / find so beautiful
Then still looking for a name, now sister actually wanted to start a kennel at that time, Gentle Giants, they should be Shiloh Shepherds, gentle giants. Well, that kennel went ' Not to be, but Gentle is a very nice name, we all thought, because a friend of ours had come along to have a look. So it became Gentle! And because both our parents couldn't get to know her anymore, we wanted to involve them anyway, so the official name became Gentle Jane, after both our parents, Jan & Nelly!
The week after, the long drive to Groningen was taken again, now we had Micky, Myla and Rowan in the car too, and our friend was there again. Outside at the breeders in Groningen we let the dogs get to know our newest addition. The males were not difficult, but our female Myla did not want to know anything about Gentle. That lasted about a week, and after that Gentle was completely included in the pack, Mama Myla had become our nickname for Myla, she was so caring for the puppy.
Many years and changes later
In the meantime we are many years further and unfortunately Micky is no longer with us and Gentle is still with me and my partner. My sister has Rowan no longer with her, Myla is still there, but in the meantime already a elderly lady of 13 years old and becomes Gentle December 1st also 12.