Jarrah and his sister Jedda were born in 1985. Jarrah took after his mother Dawn, (an alpine dingo bred by B Jacobs Vic), while Jedda resembled her desert variety father, Peter Pan (bred by Featherdale Wildlife Park, NSW).
As pups, both had the advantage of several brief stays in Sydney thanks to the generosity of a society member. It helped Jarrah enormously to adapt well to a variety of situations. Unfortunately, it was not able to continue for the planned 12-month period and’ although they both received regular socialisation and responded well to training, Jeddah became increasingly wary of strangers and shy away from familiar territory.
Not so Jarrah. This delightful dingo was always very gentle and loved people once he got to know them. As a well socialised Dingo, he participated in many public functions including a fashion parade with an unfamiliar handler.
He was also a very vocal dingo who loved any excuse to howl. Fortunately, he eventually gave up doing so under the bedroom windows.
Jarrah was sponsored by the Bull Run Australian Cattle Dog Club in the USA and Jedda by the World League for Protection of Animals who supported her most of her life.
It was said that Jarrah had a weight problem. In fact, one of his greatest admirers banned us all from calling him fat pointing out that he was merely cuddly. However his love of date scones may have had something to do with his errrr.. cuddliness
One day, Berenice was busy welcoming relatives. Jarrah took himself into the lounge room. While waiting patiently for them to join him, he neatly ate through most of the scones, licking the butter off those that remained. Tired of waiting, he finally brought a butterless scone to Berenice, dropping it at her feet, as if to say that he had waited long enough, before sauntering outside, disgusted at not being joined in the lounge room.
This magnificent dingo was always very gentle, firm but fair, with a great sense for fun and drama, and always noble.
At one time Jarrah dislocated his shoulder and although it improved with traditional veterinary care, he still had a limp, and frequently cried out in pain. A chiropractor visiting the area agreed see Jarrah. He was thrilled – Jarrah was his first Dingo patient.
He treated Jarrah with the Laser beam, and it his leg improved with three more treatments. Jarrah was soon normal playing with his dingo friends although for a time he was restricted to gentle play just in case of accident. His shoulder made a rapid recovery after three sessions with a chiropractor, and also though it could hurt if roughly handled, he no longer limped.
At twelve Jarrah was still the darling he always was and became one of her 'oldie' house dingoes. With most of the dingoes she was usually flat out staying one step ahead but with Jarrah he was usually one step ahead of her – the crafty but lovable old man, that he was.
By thirteen a number of inactive skin cysts developed in his skin but one lump started getting larger. At first it was a very slow growth and surgery was not considered to be needed. Finally, it swelled alarmingly and started to look like an abscess. Although starting to suffer from a little dementia, he was, as always, as bright as ever. Blood needed to be collected from his leg for pre-surgery. While this was being done Jarrah treated all and sundry to one of his infamous roaring episodes, terrorising all within earshot. Jarrah recovered well from his ordeal.
Jarrah and Jedda both went onto celebrate their fourteenth birthday. Jedda, her eyes sparkling and ears hard pricked would still pranced about her enclosure like a young dog. In her old age she still had a lot of spunk and enjoyed sparring on the fence line with her son, Paterson.
Jarrah’s health was not quite as good but he enjoyed life with regular walks, a good appetite (as always) and joining in the community sing-a-longs.
