Tchika

At around six months old Tchika was surrendered to the refuge at Tarbes. She was probably several months older but thin and underfed. As Les Amis work with the refuge we were able to remove her to a temporary home with Nicola, one of the Les Amis fosterers. She felt that Tchika would fit in well with her family as they were lovers of larger breeds and she was great with children. So, in February 2018, after a long car journey where Lynn, the President of the Association, met Nicola half way, Tchika came home to Nicola and her family. She fit in straight away, making firm friends with their other dog and their son.

Sadly Tchika had problems when she was sterilised. She was operated on by Nicola’s local vet but part of one of the ovaries had adhered to the wall and couldn’t be removed. She ended up at Aquivets in Agen for scan and specialist surgery. Thankfully, all turned out well in the end.

Although she was much admired, it proved hard to find a home for her due to her size but, with help from Les Amis, a family was found for Tchika in the summer of that year. Sadly it didn’t work out (through no fault of hers), and she was back with Nicola within a few weeks.

Nicola recalls. “In early 2019, again with much help from Les Amis, we were put in touch with Emma and her wonderful family, who were very keen on Tchika. After much discussion and organisation, they decided to adopt her and we managed to get car shares organised to get Tchika most of the way up France – so grateful to all those involved! Emma and her family turned out to be the perfect family for Tchika, and she is still with them, we are delighted to say.”

Emma takes up the story. “Way back in 2019 I spotted an advert for puppies – the ‘Panto pups’ – and the seed was sown for us to add another dog to our family. The big question for us was did we want a puppy? We were pretty sure we did but decided to check out the other dogs looking for homes on the lesamisdesanimaux.com website – and there was Tchika. We knew then and there that she was the one though we didn’t know much about her. A quick evening message to Lynn with a swift reply telling us how amazing Tchika was and putting us in touch with the foster carers who would be able to tell us more.

The next morning we called Nicola, and nothing she said made us doubt that Tchika was indeed the one for us. A swift house check that afternoon, the paperwork completed and a covoiturage arranged (amazing thanks always to Caroline who drove the middle 3 hour each way leg to meet us). A meeting place of MacDonalds was arranged and within the week Tchika was home with us.

I will admit that even though I knew she was big she was bigger than expected! The meeting between Stella (our Pointer) and her was fine, though over the following few days Tchika was very dominant but Stella, not being one for confrontation, dealt with it really well and they became chums. Eight weeks after getting Tchika we moved to help out a friend and we stayed at her home with the pets she couldn’t initially take. One dog went to three dogs and three cats! It was fun and busy and all the dogs were great friends. Tchika dealt with the newest move incredibly well – I truly believe that fostering played a huge part in this.

Since that first move we moved many times with Stella and Tchika due to job changes! After 4 years together it was sadly time for Stella to leave us after illness and at the grand old age of 12 and a half. She is so missed and still leaves a huge hole in our lives.

A few months passed, and we all felt it was the right time to get Tchika a new buddy. Tchika is awesome with other dogs but we wanted to be sure that the next addition went as smoothly as possible so it was decided that this time we would indeed get a puppy! A few weeks later a hungry bundle of energy we named Athena (lab x wire visla) arrived into our lives. From day one she has loved Tchika and has never bothered about the size differences – she plays rough and finds great delight in getting Tchika to play. Tchika has dealt with this amazingly well and plays like a puppy too – luckily we have a garden so they can charge around!

Last year we moved down to Cambridgeshire where they are having fun roaming the countryside and we now look after a kitten – another round of crazy days but three happy animals!

We can’t imagine not having Tchika in our lives, she is funny, caring, loud, excited, exceptionally stubborn and an all round amazing dog who takes everything in her stride and we love her!”

Not to mention a dog who loves beaches, but not the sea and is a master of getting over fences. Lucky Tchika!