Written by Bianka Lerm – Co-founder of Die Honnemense
Professional photography by Cassandra Bright
We first met the gorgeous Ellie at the Klipheuwel Kennels in August this year. We had no idea that she was a stray that happened to pitch up there in a bad state earlier this year. It was assumed that she probably came from the highly impoverished informal settlement next door to Klipheuwel Kennels’ premises.
Rochelle Johnson, owner of the kennels, kindly took Ellie in and had her sterilised and vaccinated. And, over time, Rochelle nursed Ellie back to perfect health.
We found out that she’d been in the kennels for many months and was very bonded with the handsome Rover – also a stray that had found his way to the kennels.
Before we could even create a post to help get her homed, we sent some photos to a couple whom we remembered had a boy that looked VERY similar to her. We wanted to see if they’d consider getting him a friend. Well… it only took a couple of photos and a meet-and-greet at the kennels… and it was LOVE at FIRST SIGHT!
Ellie was microchipped, and with the amazing assistance of Armand Groenewald from Armand’s Canine Behaviour & Grooming Services, the intro with their furchild, Charlie, went very well.
Ellie fitted in perfectly… as if she always belonged with them. Charlie, aka Charlie van Roon, loves his new furry sister. Thank you to Heino and Michelle van Roon for choosing to adopt and making Ellie’s dreams come true!
Michelle van Roon, Ellie’s new mom, shares…
It all started with a picture… I shared a photo of my furbaby, Charlie, with Bianka and she returned the message with a photo of her own – she’d come across a stray that closely resembled Charlie.
We immediately asked if she was up for adoption as we’d been thinking about extending our furfamily for a while.
My husband, Heino, and I first visited her at the kennels to assess how she interacted with us; we just knew that she’d fit in perfectly. The next step was to introduce her to Charlie; he’s been the only dog for all his life – four years. I was very nervous about this, but Armand (the animal behaviourist) and Bianka accompanied us to Zoo Park where we had our meet-and-greet.
After a few moments of barking and sniffing each other, we proceeded to move the meet-and-greet to our home, and the two have been inseparable since.
We feel so blessed to call these two rescues ours. They brighten up each day and bring a smile to our faces each moment, from racing up and down in the yard, games of tug-of-war with one other to cuddles on the couch. They complete each other perfectly… even down to their names: Charlie and Ellie or, as we like to call them, Lord Charles and Queen Elizabeth.
