I loved my two Bassets – Smilla and Lisa – to pieces. For more than 14 years, they were my constant companions through thick and thin. Smilla lived in three cities (Bloemfontein, Cape Town and Johannesburg) and Lisa in two (Cape Town and Johannesburg). You could say they were well-travelled!

They were even kind of famous: When I worked at the newspaper Die Burger as a sub-editor and editor, I had a regular column about interior décor, and a picture of them covered in yellow powder paint made it into the newspaper along with the story of how you could even colour-code your pets to suit your home’s colour scheme!

When they both died of cancer, my heart was broken. Having to put them down was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to take.

I vouched then never to have pets ever again.

And then I saw Keeva.

And my heart melted. My husband Greg has been bugging me for ages to get a doggie, and I came up with all sorts of excuses.

Our little boy Aaron’s favourite cartoon is Paw Patrol, a story about all these pups with superpowers and has also been wanting a Chase (his favourite pup) for a while.

I followed Petra’s story about Keeva on Facebook and Instagram for a while, still resisting.

And then, one morning, I told Greg: We are adopting a rescue doggie called Keeva.

He was ecstatic and Aaron extremely excited to meet a ‘real’ Chase.

• 

• 

• 

And we are living happily ever after.

PS: Our cat Silver is not happy yet, but he is coming around slowly but surely.