Kiah the Wonder Dog 1993–2006
by Kate M., Hampton East
In 1993, I was ready to get a dog, ready for a new family member to join my husband Stan, myself and our cat, Halley.
It was my 30th birthday and I was meant to get a restored Karmman Ghia (VW Sportscar that is an ongoing project of my husband’s) but it wasn’t ready. So, a dog I would be getting instead. (I am now 53 and the car is still unfinished!!!!)
We excitedly went off to the RSPCA on my birthday. We had in mind that we would get a male dog, medium to large — like a Labrador or a Golden Retriever or similar. Instead, we both fell for a German Shepherd x Kelpie who was 6 months old. We named her Kiah (a play on the name Karmann Ghia and we later found out that it means “beautiful” in an indigenous language. This was also before Kia cars had come to Australia — we were name pioneers!
My male Labrador or Golden Retriever dream dog actually turned out to be a female German Shepherd/Kelpie! Shows how I am always willing to compromise!
Kiah (pronounce Key-ah) became our constant companion. We did everything together. From Obedience training and getting lots of ribbons and trophies — we reached the Novice level — to agility trials. She was smart and oh so beautiful and gentle.
I could tell you a few stories about her time with us: she loved to swing from our clothes (and ruin them!) when they were hanging on the Hills Hoist washing line and landscaping the back yard so it resembled a moonscape! There was also the time she ate part of my husband’s motorbike seat. Or maybe about when she ate the seatbelt that was hanging out of the car. Or when she ate the entire contents of our neighbours TWO chocolate Show Bags from the Melbourne Show (except for the foil wrappings!)
Oh wait! I will tell you about the time she licked the ganache off the top of my sister’s surprise 40th birthday party cake when I picked it up from Sponge Kitchen in Hampton. I remember coming out of Marmaris Turkish Restaurant as I was picking up supplies, and seeing her in the front seat of the car, licking. I could see brown on her tongue. My immediate thought was that she had poohed in the car! Oh no! Much worse? She had licked a section of the chocolate ganache off the top off the cake! I was mortified. We had many guests coming and it was a big surprise for my sister — what to do? Remember, she hadn’t actually EATEN the cake — she had licked some of the ganache icing. Talking to my mum, we decided to cut some of the cake away where she had licked and covered the offending area with lovely fresh strawberries! Voila! Still had a cake and it looked amazing! I told my sister about it later — she thought it was a BIG laugh!
Once we started to have children, Kiah’s life didn’t change too much — it probably got better as I was able to be with her so much more. She loved the children but loved my husband and I more.
As I said, she came with me everywhere. When the boys started kindergarten, she would be in the car with me when I dropped them off and picked them up. She was always in the front seat and then when we had my daughter — the 3 kids were in their car seats and Kiah and I in the front — doing drop offs and pick ups so many times a week — it was mind numbing and ritualistic.
If I DIDN’T take her with me, she would be left at home. She didn’t like that too much. That’s when she would start barking and our neighbour, Joyce, from 2 houses up, would sometimes come and get her and take her to her place. When I would get home and Kiah wouldn’t be here, I would assume she was up at Joyce’s. That is until one day we received a fine in the mail from the council because the bylaws officer tried to catch her and watched her jump back IN to our property — it was a big 6ft fence — rungs on our side too. So, she would jump OUT from our side using the rungs and back IN via the neighbours side without rungs (all that agility training paid off for her!)
The day after the fine in the mail, I decided to leave her at home when I took the kids to school — I closed the gate, hopped in the car and drove around the block. Came back, opened the gate and she had already gone! So, we drove around a few streets and found her two blocks away on a nature strip with an old man patting her and feeding her cooked meat. I got out of the car and told her to get in! He said is this your dog? I told him yes. He then told me that she had been visiting him for YEARS and that after him, she would go to another house in his street where she would also get food and pats. No wonder we thought she didn’t eat much! It was an eyeopener for us and a highlight of other people’s days to see her. So then we had to put a 2 foot mesh extension along the top of the whole fence. It looked like Stalag 13 (It’s still there all these years later.)
Another time, before we had put the fence extension up, I received a phone call from the vice principal at the kids school in Sandringham (we live in Hampton East) saying that Kiah had just arrived at our little school — a 4 km car drive away! Over busy roads like Bluff Rd, Sandringham Rd etc — I don’t know what route she actually took but any of the ways was dangerous! Did she cross at the lights? Who knows? Did she take the route that I drove daily? Maybe. It would have been interesting to know that’s for sure.
Everyday after school pickup, I would go from school to Sandringham Coles. This is significant because one day at the end of school term, the kids had finished early. I picked them up and came straight home. She wasn’t here but again, I just thought she was at Joyce’s. Then I get a call on the home phone (this was before the popularity of mobiles!) and it was a lady asking if we were missing our dog? Umm, I think so? She said that Kiah was standing at the Coles automatic door and sniffing/looking at everyone coming out. For over an hour but not to worry, they had bought her an icecream! So, once again, she had travelled from home to Sandringham. Safely.
Fast forward and at the age of nearly 14, Kiah went outside one morning, for her toileting and drinking. I happened to look out of the kitchen window and saw that she was lying on her side on the driveway. Five or so minutes later, I looked out again and she was standing up but with her head pointing down. She looked strange so I watched for a minute or two — she seemed to be swaying slightly but otherwise didn’t move.
I went out to her and she tried to walk to me but found it difficult. Very tentative steps and only 3 or 4. Well, I was immediately worried and upset. She looked like she wanted to lie down so I got her blankets from inside and helped her.
Then I decided to carry her inside where it was less windy and she just lay like a rag doll. Occasionally trying to lift her head up but lying back down.
After an hour or so of this (my husband returned from a trip to the UK at that very moment) and she tried to go to him but couldn’t — slow steps, head down.
We sat with her — I was crying, my husband was very worried. After about 30mins she started to rally around — walked a bit more and able to drink and eat a piece of cheese.
I took her to the vet then — deciding if it was bad news I would just bring her home to be with us. She had exploratory surgery where they found a mass. They closed her up. We had already decided that we would not go down the Chemo path so the next step was to put her on steroids which would give us a little more time with her.
A week later, I was in the kitchen preparing dinner and I realised that she wasn’t under my feet as she always was so I called her. No answer. I went outside and found her, lying down at the back of my car, near the kitchen window. Gone.
I called out to Stan. He came running as did the three children. There I was cradling her head crying. All of us were crying. Then Bronte (my youngest) piped up — ‘she bit me once when I was a baby.’ Pardon I said? ‘On the forehead. She bit me.’ I don’t think so Bronte. ‘and Halley never liked me either.’ Huh? ‘She scratched me and wouldn’t let me pick her up.’ Ummm, ok can we not talk about this right now? Ha ha ha. Our eldest, who was in grade 6, was wailing her name like a banshee and our middle child, who was in grade 5, was just sitting quietly, with a blanket over his head and tears streaming down his face. Looking back, it was interesting in how each child responded seeing her like this and seeing their mum and dad so distressed as well.
She is now buried in our front yard alongside two of our cats. The graves have big crosses on them made out of wood and plaques. I still think of her often and smile. It took us a long time to get another dog after her. She was one in a million.
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