Nov 29 2007
Nova
One of the things we have to come to terms with as we get older is the loss of much-loved friends. November 29th 2007 is a date that will stick in our minds for a long time as the day we lost Nova. Personally, I prefer animals to most people. This is Nova’s story.
Not the greatest start to a dog’s life, Nova was rescued by Lee, my eldest son, when she was brought into the kennels he was working in during the summer holidays. Bedraggled, under-nourished and obviously mistreated she had just 7 days to find a new owner. Given that she trusted no-one except Lee, there was little hope of that so she came to us.
Hiding on the stairs, or in some other quiet spot in the house, it was literally years before we all gained her trust although she soon came to relax with the children.
It wasn’t long before we noticed she was a willing worker and easily trained. Kate trained her to compete in agility classes and her party piece was ‘adding and taking-away’. The answers were supplied by the correct number of barks. She won many prizes and won the judges over with her affectionate nature. Initially, we had been concerned that she wouldn’t get along with Lucky, our existing dog, who was most definitely in charge of the house! However, this was unfounded and Lucky even condescended to attend the odd show to help out 
Nova had all the style of a natural champion and was soon winning almost everything she entered. Take a look in her scrapbook.
Lucky was getting a bit too old for competition by this time and, sadly, we lost her many years ago but Nova was just getting into her stride. With artistic help from Kris (and some of his clothes!) Nova showed she had a comic side too entering caption ‘photo competitions with some outrageous poses. In this one she claimed she had had a rough night out on the town with Snoop Dog…
The highly competitive world of village shows means a dog has to be in the peak of condition to keep up So, Nova decided to move into training and we were on the search for a suitable student. We finally settled on Indi.
In this shot Indi is learning to eat flowers. Unfortunately, this appears to be the extent of his abilities as training seems to be completely lost on him. Still, Nova did the best she could and Indi turned out every bit as affectionate as his devoted mentor. I will always have a suspicion Nova would have made a good mother.
Nova had many years of happy retirement just like this one:
Her whole family were with her at the end.
I was moved to tears by the tribute to Nova. I had the pleasure of knowing this lovely little animal and knew of the joy she brought to the whole family. I was fortunate enough to see her and Kate win a ‘look like your pet’ competion some years ago. In this day and age when we hear of so many horror stories regarding animals it is heart warming to read of one who was so loved. I am sure the article will bring fond memories to other pet owners who have loved and lost. I hope so.