Tuesday January 19th 2010

My dog-walking friend Sarah once said to me, "there are two types of people in this world - normal people and those who don't like dogs."

Tessie is my fox terrier. She should be a cat really as she has certainly had more than one life. In fact she is probably approaching nine lives by now.

She won the equivalent of the dog - lottery when we picked her out of a litter of two back in July of 2003. We were living in France at the time, in a house with a big fenced garden and a huge wood of several hundred acres within walking distance. We walked every day and life for a dog couldn't get much better.

Then came the day that we were relocated to the United States. Tessie went on ahead whilst we all went to Canada for visas. She arrived safely and I was pleased to hear that she was being "home kennelled" - a much nicer environment for her.

Except that she clearly needed to go and find her family because on the third day she escaped. It was Labor day in the United States and so everything and everyone that could help were closed.

She was home alone in New York.

The frantic handlers were going door to door with hand bills offering $1000 reward for her and in spite of their best efforts nightfall came and she was no-where to be seen. Of course by now we were frantic but couldn't do a thing as we had no visas to enter the USA.

The following morning we arrived at the offices of our lawyers in Toronto and explained the situation. Visas normally take about 30 hours but we pleaded with him to expedite them that day. His first comment on hearing the news was, "I smell a lawsuit", as only a lawyer can.

Visas were issued later that day, clearly by an Embassy staffer who loved dogs and appreciated the situation. We were on a flight to Philadelphia that evening.

After 28 hours Tessie was found. She had made it to the house of an elderly lady who we understand went to the local store to buy dog food and saw the notice pinned up. Did she think "dog vs. $ 1000?" Or was she a dog lover who knew how much this pooch would be missed. I guess I will never know but I am eternally grateful to her for ringing the number on the notice.

Now Tessie is here with us in Sao Paulo. She had a long flight but seems none the worse for it. I have to say that hotel living with a dog is pretty tedious and we are constantly up and down in lifts. People that live in apartments with dogs must truly love them.

But coming back to my opening quote from Sarah. When we heard that we would have to spend several days in a hotel waiting for the house to be ready, we were originally booked into the Hyatt. But, they don't allow dogs so we had to find an alternative.

So thank you Hilton Hotels. How enlightened you are , or maybe it is just that you are run by "normal people".