Olive

It doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened to Olive if she hadn’t been found. It could have been so much worse.

But the silver lining to a sad beginning, is that Olive found the best life and family we could’ve asked for.

Julie, Olive’s new mum, already had a rescue dog called Charlie who travelled to New Zealand with them last year. He was saved from the streets of Australia after he was found skin and bone and has spent the last 5 years with a life every dog deserves. It made sense that Julie and her family should give another rescue dog a home.

“What attracted us to Olive was her ‘I’m really interested in what’s going on’ look in her eyes and her large ears that turned like radars,” laughs Julie. “Now the last couple of months have passed and we have the one ear up and one ear down look instead.”

olice and broIt didn’t take long for Olive and Charlie to become the best of friends. All Olive has to do is ‘woof’ at a sound and Charlie will race off to do the rest of the barking. But most of the time this is quite possibly only a ploy to get Charlie into trouble. “Olive has the brains and Charlie has the brawn,” Julie admits.

Olive’s cheekiness does not stop there. According to her mum she has got herself into a lot of trouble. In just a few months she has chewed Charlie’s kennel and all his bedding, the wooden trailer, the coffee table, slippers, jewellery, the sofa cushions, shoes, the deck, mats, and put Olive sized muddy footprints all over the car. “Once I left for only 20 minutes and came back to a black dog with little polystyrene beads stuck all over her fur, around her eyes and in her mouth. I went inside and followed a polystyrene bead trail to the spare bedroom. The sight was horrendous, she must have had a great time throwing that pillow around the room,” says Julie.

A couple of days later it suddenly went quiet and Julie knew that wasn’t a good sign. Olive had taken pot plants off the deck and proceeded to throw them around inside. “I had forgotten what it was like to have a puppy as my last four rescue dogs have been adopted as adults. It has been interesting. Olive is best described as a whirlwind that races through the house ten times a day, but her training is coming along really well,” Julie says.

Olive and Charlie have had many adventures together. The two of them bound around in the surf at Waihi Beach, and love to lie in the trailer outside every morning. Julie says they like to pretend they’re lizards trying to warm up on a cold morning. The duo even dressed up for Halloween last year to greet all the trick or treaters, and although the house is filled with dog beds, Olive and Charlie will always be curled up together on one. “Charlie really misses her if they are apart,” says Julie.

It was a frightening start to little Olive’s life, but now she has her big brother Charlie to protect her, and her family to shower her with love and affection.