I dated my dog before we moved in together

Birgit with Athos in her red car. Photo: Siam Lim

Sometimes would-be pet owners need to make major lifestyle changes in order to have their pet live with them. Birgit is one of them. 

In order to adopt Athos, a Belgian Shepherd, Birgit has had to make many changes in her life. She had to give up her apartment and move into a house with a big yard, and make changes to her work arrangements. However, there is one thing she will not give up — her red two-seater sports car, she says.

She works in clinical research which is very much computer-based but it also requires a lot of internal and external client contact. As all she really needed are a phone line and Internet, she made arrangements initially to work from home three days a week. And as Athos had never been alone in his whole life, she got her former partner to watch him the remaining two days of the week.

Today, she still works from home up to two days a week, using the time she would normally travel to and from work to spend with him. 

“On these work-from-home days, Athos is left pretty much on his own in the backyard, but he knows I am there and does get a cuddle, or I throw him a few balls, now and then.”

Thinking about how she first met Athos brings back good memories for her.

She was volunteering at Monika’s Rescue looking after some rabbits when she first met him and his two siblings. They were stricken with parvovirus and abandoned.

She got to know him over the following 10 months; in the last five months she found she really enjoyed his company and missed him when she had to go home, knowing she would not see him until the next weekend.

“I was told that Athos always waits for me to arrive. When I decided that I want to adopt him, I knew exactly what kind of dog I was getting, just like I had been dating someone, before moving in together...hmmm, of course there could still have been surprises, but I had also done my homework: the breed likes to please their owners, they are very protective and smart, can be nervous/cautious/timid, need mental stimulation, exercise, and a firm but soft hand...so it was a matter of love, discipline and training.”

She was the one being trained

She said in the process of training Athos, she discovered that, in fact, it was she who was being trained.

She’d selected John, a professional dog trainer, because “he convinced me during a brief phone conversation that it is 'useless' — in his opinion, and I agree — to pay someone to train your dog as the dog is supposed to be following the owner’s commands and if I do not understand them or how to use them, the dog will not understand me, the owner. 

“The sessions with John were two-hourly and 90 percent with me. We had three of these private sessions and I believe I would have not been successful without John especially since I never had a dog before. 

“Dogs are a real commitment; they need and ask for you 24/7 and I used to be scared of that commitment even until the day before Athos moved in. Now I cannot imagine my life without him anymore.

“We go pretty much every weekend to Bayview and every day around the neighbourhood. I have also taken him to Narrabeen Lake, friends’ places and restaurants. He loves being in the car.”

Birgit recently took Athos to the Dogs Day Out at St Ives Showground -- his first big day out.  He surprised her by sprinting to first place in the big dog race.

Athos in the lead despite being a first-timer in dog races. Photo: Siam Lim