Tinkerbell
A Real Southern Belle!
Alabama USA
While we were living in Alabama, USA, we were looking for a dog to complete our family. Our youngest daughter had always wanted a Chihuahua and we looked around the local area to see if we could find one. We had always had larger dogs previously and a smaller dog was a something new to us.
Driving back home from Florida one day, we spotted a sign just over the state line into Alabama, advertising Chihuahua puppies. It was a properly registered US Kennel Club accredited breeder and Tinkerbell (‘Tink’) left with us!
For the next 16 years she was the source of love and happiness, that I didn’t think was possible.
An International Traveller
When we moved back to the UK, Tink stayed with our eldest daughter on her cattle farm in Tennessee, to serve her quarantine. She had the necessary injections and antibody checks, and once she was given a clean bill of health from the government approved ‘vet, in Nashville, she could fly back to us. She had to have:
1. A ticket to Heathrow with no flight connections involved
2. An airline approved dog carrier
3. A ticket with the only approved airline, which at the time was British Airways
Serving the quarantine in the US allowed us to arrive at the Animal Reception Centre (ARC) in Heathrow and take her home the same day (after her post-flight health checks by the Staff). She had apparently travelled with a horse, two alligators and 30,000 fish! As well as a huge black Standard Poodle called Alan, who appeared at the ARC, in curlers!
Alan went on to great success at Crufts a couple of years later.
Life in the UK
Tink was disgusted with us all the way home from Heathrow! She soon came around to her new home though and remained the refined Southern Belle that she had always been. She was never aggressive, other than with the ‘vet’s use of the thermometer, and was the most affectionate dog imaginable.
She loved our grand kids. She didn’t bark very much, other than to say hi to Albert, the English Bulldog next door, or to let us know that the post lady (who was in love with her) was at the door, or that foxes were in the vicinity; a throwback to her warning us about Coyotes on the farm in the US.
Sadly we lost Tink a couple of years ago at the grand old age of 16. She was a dog, adored by everyone.
She would have had some great stories to tell too if she could only speak...