By Dr Stephen Cutter- Veterinarian on the Jigalong Trip.

Their parents were significantly different sizes. The mum was a “bush Chihuahua” – she was little with short legs about the size of a cat. The dad was a large dog about the size of Labrador with a ridge down his back. So their ancestry includes Chihuahua + Ridgeback + dingo + ?????? Who knows what they will look like when they grow up. They should be nice and healthy with all that hybrid vigour. Two of them had ridges like ridgebacks and two were born with a stumpy tail.

These pups were actually handed to us to be euthanased. However they were very sweet and quite healthy so asked the owner if we could rehome them instead. Obviously we didn’t want to rehome them in Jigalong as every one else was in the same situation. We were there to control dog numbers not add to them. So we decided to take them with us. One pup was adopted immediately to go and live in perth with a volunteer. The other three pups made a long journey with us. Firstly we drove with them the 800 km back to Port headland.  From there the pups flew to perth. One pup then flew to Sydney with Kath our Veterinary Student volunteer. The other two pups then flew on to Darwin. One pup has stayed in Darwin (I

have adopted it) and but the other then flew to rural NSW to be adopted by Julia’s (our Executive Officer) grandchildren. Surely this one needs its own frequent flier membership. (pictured above is 'Gracie', very much loved by her new owner Anusha. 'Gracie' loves to play hide and seek, puts up with being dressed up as a doll occassionally and is a very happy puppy.

 They have all well settled into their new homes and have adapted very well to their diverse new environments.

Pictured R here is a recent one of 'Wundi', who  is living in Darwin with Veterinarian, Dr Stephen Cutter.She is a very fast learner and can do lots of things. However her food drive is very strong. Last week she walked into the surgery and suddenly made a bee line to a bench where a sealed tube of nutrigel  (a sweet paste) was sitting and she sat (as she has been taught if she wants food) staring at the tube. How she found it amongst all the other smells in the veterinary surgery at ARK Animal Hospital Stephen has no idea. She is a very good puppy but he gets the feeling she has a lot going on in her mind.

Our next little traveller (pictured below) is also called 'Wundi' (which is the local Jiggalong word for woman) and lives with Volunteer Vet Student, Kath Tsimbas who went with the team on the Jiggalong dog health program.

Kath reports------When I first met Wundi she was asleep on a mop head and looked very cosy. She was one of 4 sisters, all who were very healthy and charismatic. There was also something intriguing and special about them. So when their owner told us that she already had too many dogs and did not want these puppies, I immediately decided that I was going to bring one back to Sydney. Wundi flew to Sydney with me, from Port Hedland on 2 planes, and was only a small ball of fur with a very loud and demanding bark at that stage! In Sydney, she has fit in very well with our other dog Lucy. Yet she can't understand why our 2 cats don't want to play with her. She is very intelligent, inquisitive and loving to everyone in the family. She watches everything we do and has to be part of the action. I really feel that she listens to and understands everything that I say to her. Our Wundi is very emotional, and makes many different noises depending on how she is feeling. We always know what mood she is in as she makes that very clear! She is always overly happy to see everyone and this makes my family and I feel extremely special.  She is also a much loved puppy!