July 16, Pepper

This is Pepper, who lived in Australia with Shay, whose is a friend of my sister Colleen who is living in Brisbane at the moment~  great story~

Ode to Pepper 

Being a cattle dog, in was in Pepper's nature to 'herd' things. This inherent behaviour was transferred to things such as the frisbee, the hose, the vacuum cleaner and the all-time favourite - the tennis ball. Anything that moved with repetition or that she could chase had her undivided attention. To the point of obsession. If you had a tennis ball in your hand and you went to pat her (because she was sooooo cute when intently focused on that ball), she would pull away and let you know it was all about the ball. When I lived in Victoria, the pristine mountain streams and banks had rocky bottoms, with lovely smooth rounded rocks that children couldn't resist throwing into the water - this was always too much for Pepper and many a time she would catch these rocks and had worn teeth because of this. When I was living in north Queensland, I was living in this area with no fences that was just starting to become urbansied - Pepper used to roam around and would often come home with teddy bears - I cringe to think where she got them from and cringe now too at my lackadaisical approach to dog ownership. But they were carefree times and Pepper was carefree. We religiously walked every morning and everyone knew her. She was a character, mischievous. She would often get into the rubbish bin and lick any food wrappings - one night when we came home I even thought we had been burgled because there was rubbish all over the kitchen and living room floor! We used to live near a caravan park and she would often sneak out over there during tourist season - one time we had a call from a good friend who reported seeing Pepper trotting home with a 1kg Doner Kebab sausage (salami) in her mouth - sure enough we found her under the house with only bits of sausage wrapping left...we didn't feed her that night and some unfortunate tourist was probably wondering what on earth happened to their salami!!! There are many more stories I could share of Pepper - of her food stealing antics and of the countless, innumerous places we went together - beaches, rivers, creeks, parks, lookouts, forests, tracks, trails - exploring and sharing. She will be forever in my heart.

8x8 acrylic on wood, $175 click here for purchase info~