Each of our 19 doggies has its own story. Below are briefly three of them.

Let's begin with the very first story about my very first doggie, called "Hannibal", a beautiful purebred male Chow Chow with papers.

At home, we kids grew up with cats, birds & fish - but no dogs. That changed & for 15 years of my life I am living as a certainly loved (but not very much respected) "pack member" of our dogs. When I bought "Hannibal" the Chow Chow, I knew very little about dogs, that was ca. 28 years ago. To that time the quantity of information about dogs and their physical & mental welfare wasn't so much broad as today. I was taught at school in the fifties that animals are driven mainly by their "instinct" and as a consequence, their behavior would be preprogrammed like the mechanics of a watch and not much variable.

Today, professional scientists are seriously talking in the media about the possibility that dogs may have a soul like humans have.

I don't want to go so far, but a fact is, that dogs are able to learn and to use their taught knowledge to master themselves situations which are new & strange for them. That proves a simple thinking process which is independent of a preprogrammed, instinctive behavior.

As mentioned before, scientists also have found that 80% of the genetic program of dogs (and humans) are not manageable, but only 20% by education & surrounding.

These are very interesting facts which should help us humans to understand each other in a fairer & more tolerant way and should help to respect and understand "man's best friend" in a better way too!

But back to "Hannibal":

At the dog breeder's kennels "Hannibal" was the only puppy of a litter of 8 who has chosen me impulsively, very temperamentally & noisily as his friend. He desperately wanted to come with us and didn't give up over a period of ca. 45 minutes to keep our attention alive for him! He was round & molly like a plush ball & the biggest & strongest of the litter. At that time we were informed that Chow Chows are "one person's dogs", which means that their feelings are mainly devoted to one person only but I certainly couldn't imagine the consequences of this part of their genetic structure. "Hannibal" was the ideal family dog for us with 2 small kids. He was always patient & gentle & very quiet. But because he was also an unusually strong minded dog he didn't want to obey except if he agreed to the command. From the first view he has chosen me as the target of his never-ending love and gentle understanding affection. To this time I became twice seriously ill with a lot of unbearable pain, which I wanted to bear silently, concerned not to frighten my two young kids. At last no pain killing needle helped anymore. But there was "Hannibal" with his bed in the hallway, I went to when my pain became too unbearable and where I could let my emotions run freely. I could see in his good, golden brown eyes understanding for my suffering and gently he gave me each time a nudge with his moist & cold nose and quietly waved his bushy tail. He had a great character and was an easy going dog and was always satisfied with his life & circumstances. To keep him and his bushy, long fur clean & tidy never was a problem for me - he just was perfect, except he didn't want to be. After seven years of problem free comradeship with "Hannibal" we have had to sell our home in the country we lived so peacefully and had to move in a small town on rental basis only. Sadly we weren't allowed to keep "Hannibal" and his giant friend "Bomber" as only 3 cats were accepted in the rental contract. We couldn't find another home in the country where we were allowed to stay with our "private zoo" so we have had to go through all the stress & pain of separation to seek for our pets a new, warm & good home. But all of the responding people weren't accepted by us as "Hannibal's" new owners, because they seemed to be unable to give "Hannibal" the love & attention he needed and a good life to the end of his days. At last we found nice, clean & educated people which seemed to be friendly and responsible and which have had always dogs for their own in the past. "Hannibal" got at his new home again a nice & warm bed in the hallway & he was kept healthy & clean.

All seemed to be perfect in every respect and he should become again in his new home a satisfied "lucky dog" as he was with us. But he didn't. He never was prepared to accept these people as his friends & tried to escape several times. Also he refused permanently to obey them & their commands.

To make "Hannibal" the separation from us easier for him, over a period of several weeks we visited him once a week or fortnightly at the home of these people which were becoming new friends for us. But each time we came, "Hannibal" didn't move from my left side wherever I was going or sitting. First our new friends didn't say anything, but at later visits they commanded him to leave me alone to go to his bed in the hallway but he didn't obey. He just didn't want to leave me, but concerned that his owners become angry with him, I told him to obey, which he did, but very slowly and always looking back to me on his way to his bed in the hallway.

That was frustrating for our new friends and they told us that each time when we left, "Hannibal" went "crazy" and needed each time several days to settle down again.

I offered the people to pay back the money they paid for him for looking for another home but they wanted to keep him & asked me not to come again to their home because of "Hannibal's" suffering of separation from us. Ca. 4 months later my beautiful doggie "Hannibal" was dead. Despite these experiences with "Hannibal" I still was in the opinion at the time that dogs are "only" animals, driven mainly by their instincts with no special feelings as humans have and no high intelligence. How terribly wrong I was has taught me the gruesome death of "Hannibal" and this shocking experience became the key for understanding the fact that:

1. I am keeping since 8 years, against all odds, a dog sanctuary of 19 dogs and a cat sanctuary of 14 cats.

2. That I am also prepared to spend a high percentage of my remaining & future artwork businesses to support abandoned dogs and cats, as I wanted to do the same since my early childhood to support needy kids. To be able to raise money for those purposes it is a necessity to find buyers for my broad artwork or to find a group of professional business people which are prepared to produce & to market professionally, by license, copies of my artwork originals which could become true "money spinners". Help is urgently needed to find the one or other mentioned solution. Please visit my Web site under the following address: www.JabroArt.com and please contact me through my "Send E-mail" contact page.

The new owners of "Hannibal", which I didn't want to call anymore my friends, told me the following story about his gruesome death which he never deserved:

"In the meantime it became winter and the streets were icy and slippery for pedestrians and car drivers. "Hannibal" was on the leash on his daily walk outside, but he managed to use an unattended moment of his new owners and was running off the leash onto the street directly infront of a car which hit him on his head. His new owners wanted to help him get up, but he didn't want to be touched by them but was growling at them and was running down to the river front. Without any holding back he was jumping in the ice-cold water and it seemed he just wanted to be drowned. But the ice cold water must have brought him to his senses again, to awake his will to live and he tried to climb on an ice block but was always again & again slipping back in the ice cold water. At last the freezing temperature paralyzed him and he was helplessly swimming down the river and slowly drowning under".

When I heard this story I couldn't say anything but was quickly walking away to my car where I broke down.

At his memory, still after 22 years, tears are coming again in my eyes and I feel unnecessarily guilty because the fault of carelessness was clearly at his new owners who have taken over the responsibility of his future welfare by purchasing him from us.

Never I could forgive them that I was unable to buy him back to find another home where he would have become happier than with those people.

Man's common believe is that humans should not transfer their own feelings onto the feelings of dogs which are still different in some ways to that of humans, but this undoubtedly touching story of a true loving, devoted & faithful doggie which must have felt his separation from us as a baseless, not understandable punishment of leaving him alone in the cold, was the key for understanding the fact that I just have to help abandoned doggies & cats with founding of more pet sanctuaries where dogs are not being killed, but helped to find a good home to the end of their lives.

At these planned pet sanctuaries elderly people, or those on welfare should have the opportunity to get the desexing of their pets for free by a vet which is available 24 hours and being paid by a part of the earnings of my artwork businesses.

In the meantime, we have learned, being taught daily by our other 19 mix breed dogs since 8 years, that dogs a) are able to feel like people, love, faith, devotion, jealousy, sadness, rejection and anger, b) are highly intelligent animals by reaching the IQ of a human of 4 years of age or more c) that dogs are able by professional teaching to understand the meaning of the contents of 250 words (or more) d) that dogs are able to remember 2000(!) different scents e) that dogs are, just because of their high intelligence, to be useful in many ways for human's needs, f) that dogs are simply human's best friend in each way by loving them unconditionally g) that dogs have a highly effective therapeutic use for sick people h) that dogs are much more thankful towards humans for all friendly and responsible care that they get from them, than humans are able to show to each other and the list goes on and on.

The second "Doggie Tale" about a Dalmatian cross, named "Sammy" is different to that of "Hannibal" He has an extremely bad family history, but with a good ending:

His mum was beaten nearly to death by her cruel and unresponsible owner because she got pregnant! Her cruel owner missed to neuter her to avoid that pregnancy. Young people have rescued her and brought her to the vet who has fixed her broken jaw and two of her broken legs. They have given the pups of this poor doggie to a pet shop where we discovered "Sammy". He was injured on his right eye when we bought him at that pet shop. He was vomiting permanently and his head was always falling on his chest, he couldn't keep it upright. We brought him immediately to the vet and he gave "Sammy" 3 needles and us a lot of medicine for him to be used over the period of ca. 8 weeks. These needles must have hurt him extremely badly because he was screaming in a way that we have never heard before! He now distrusts all vets and strangers and we do understand him very well, by wondering, wasn't it avoidable by the vet to hurt the very sick puppy so much by using a better treatment and more sensitivity? His very sweet and lovely little sister, which we saw with him at the same pet shop wasn't injured but healthy and very joyful and playful. I was sure that this sweet puppy would quickly find a new and friendly owner. But it didn't! We found her, ca 6 weeks later, in the local dog pound/shelter. She must have gotten a lot of bad experiences with humans in the meantime, because she was now very shy and permanently cowering in the corner of the kennel.

If pet shop owners can't find buyers for their pups in a short time they will be given to other shops or back to their owners, or to dog pounds, or to universities as "guinea pigs". To 99.99% they will be killed anyway.

We decided to buy and keep her despite the fact that we are owners of so many other dogs. But the next couple of days we wanted to pick her up she was killed before by a paid vet. It would be highly recommended and an act of humanity, if all vets would administer a fast-acting and strong painkilling sedative tablet to the animals, before they receive the deadly, hurting injection because all these poor pets are feeling normally what's going to happen to them and they deserve our sympathy and responsibility.

We have seen so many heartbreaking scenes at dog pounds which is mainly the last station for dogs and cats of non-responsible owners that we didn't want to become guilty too and are wondering if the irresponsible dog-and cat owners are not thinking about their own death and the kind of how it will happen if it's time to pass away. Maybe they are not aware that they will be judged in time by a higher court then the worldly is. But then it's too late for them.

One of "Sammy's" favorite things is to play ball with us. He developed excellent skills in catching the "flying" ball in his mouth even at very difficult positions which are "stage-worthy", he would make a perfect goal keeper. He always likes to retrieve and is an excellent sprinter by moving a lot which keeps him slim, alert and fit.

"Tiny", the mix breed of Kelpie-and Cattle dog, born on a Sunday but was unwanted too. Her owner has given her at the age of only 3 weeks to the pet shop owner which didn't want her because she was too young for sale. After 2 weeks "Tiny's" owner brought her again to the pet shop and she was kept there for sale in a small cage on newspapers. I have first thought she is a little kitten and wasn't interested in her because of our own cats which we still keep locked in very large catteries because of the beautiful bird life in our yard. (Only one neutered male cat is allowed to be unlocked to keep the mice population under control!) So our youngster at this time at the age of 13 years came to me very upset with the following words: "Mum, haven't you seen the tiny black puppy in that small cage? It's always shaking and will soon die!" I said "that's a kitten, not a pup", but took a closer, second look. Our youngster was right. The pup was always shaking, maybe because of illness, or fear, hunger and coldness. So I bought her to give her a warm, good home. In the meantime "Tiny" became a good friend of "Sammy." She was neutered at 6 months and is now a slightly overweight, but a very lively, intelligent personality and an extremely good watch dog. She distrusts, because of the first negative experiences of her life, strangers just like "Sammy" does. Each time we are coming home, she is full of joy and not only waving her stumpy tail but wiggling her whole back part temperamentally too. She then is rolling each time on her round back to offer us her unprotected belly for cuddling, which is a sign of her big trust and love for us. At the age of eight, she gets now a gray snout, but is still alert as all the years before.

We could write a thick book about the experiences with our dogs, neighbors and councils. If in the future we have more time, we will make these stories public for donating again a high percentage of the profit to animal welfare organizations. We spend every day up to 4 hours for the welfare of our animals (at "bathing days" in our own professional hydrobath, we need a full working day which includes certainly ear cleaning and nail clipping etc. etc...) Our dogs all have a shiny healthy fur and clean, clear eyes.

They get everyday 3 different kinds of food like raw hamburger-or roo mince or raw chicken necks, dog sausages or can food & preservative-free dry food, plus added raw eggs, raw carrots, or raw apples, all-bran, or cooked potatoes. They are all vaccinated and wormed regularly. Since the last 8 years we have spent tens of thousands of dollars for them. Only for renting the space, over a period of ca. 10 months, in 2 boarding kennels, (the owners didn't have to do anything for our dogs because we cared and fed them with our own high quality dog food) we have spent more than $7500.- for it, etc. etc. The monthly caring costs alone for our dogs are several hundreds of dollars.

We do permanently all our best to keep the dogs quiet in each way with help of good care. They are trained hassle free since their puppyhood not to bark in a senseless, permanent manner. But they are allowed a few times per day to show their emotions if we are with them, because we want them to be happy. Actually, the quality of life means sound & movement and not the deadly silence of a cemetery. Animals should be allowed, especially in the country, to express their emotions a few times a day, just like people do. If dogs are not allowed to bark sometimes (not permanently) they develop behavioral problems.

We are often asked by people questions like the following:

Why are you spending so much time and money only for "bloody mix breeds"?

These people maybe don't know that:

Thank you so much for your friendly attention!

Have a nice day, be loved and blessed.

Yours sincerely, J.A.BRO. ©

(originally titled: "Dear Neighbours", June 1998)