DINGO OWNER TYM THURLING

 

Amber

I think that I have never cried as much as I did when amber died. All I could do is cry and cry and cry, I still do when I think of him. But that is getting ahead in this story.

His full name is Prince Electric Amber Cutesy Pie Cuddly Bear. He was a prince because his mother was Princess. His coloring is amber and so that was how he got that name. Electric came from a lecture I saw days after he came to me, by a very interesting man about electric geology, apparently amber has electric qualities and it was very true, Amber had electric qualities he would zap around like lightning causing seismic disturbances, he’d  sneak up on you and leave you thunderstruck. Cutesy Pie Cuddly Bear, well I couldn’t argue with public consensus, he would approach everyone or rather let anyone come and give him a cuddle or a pat, he was the essence of cuteness and everyone would say what a cutesy pie he was and then he would do his cuddly bear act and sit on their feet and eventually their knees. Dingoes flop, its proberly something that you have to experience to understand, if they like you and feel safe with you, you pick them up or they sit on you and flop. They go lose and lay on you. Their head rests on your shoulder and they just flop. It has to be one of the most gentle and beautiful experiences you can ever have.

He came to me; I never thought that I would have a dingo as a part of my life. I went to a friend’s house one day and there he was. A tiny little pup of about five weeks old the last of a litter and needing a home. I was living with my sister at the time and he was already named Amber, my sister collects amber and once they met, there was never any question of if we should keep him or not.  

Dingoes aren’t dogs, saying dingoes are dogs, is like saying lemurs are orangutans or people are chimps. Dingoes never had a sense breed out in favor of another, or been breed to be subservient to people. For at least the last 2000 years dingoes have been integral parts of the aboriginal family. 

Amber taught us really quickly that he was a member of our family, that he needed to know what was happening and wanted to be involved in what was going on in the household. He was so smart all of his senses working, he would hear or smell or see something that would pique his insatiable curiosity. And like electricity would be there amongst it before you could say zap.

I used to walk him to town every morning for a coffee where we would sit and I’d read the paper and chat with people, on cold mornings, he would sleep in a friends guitar case while my friend practiced his guitar, it was a beautiful way to start the day, he wasn’t even six months old when he would sit at the side of the road with out me asking him to, before we crossed. He would lie down, jump up, jump down, come and there were so many things that he was learning. Dingoes are very smart and he was no exception. It amazed me how quick he was to learn things, how gentle and how playful he was.

But that was also his down fall

He was smart and knew what it was that I said to him. He would have been a little over six months old and would walk really well with me without a lead. I use to do it at the beach and in large parks. They are said to be similar to horses, try to get a horse into a horse float if they don’t want to get in, you just can’t, they have to want to. Well I was loading my car to go camping and was going in and out the back gate and Amber followed me out the gate and I didn’t panic, it was ok he was good in that he would heel and he had done the same thing many times before.

But he decided he wanted to play and that was ok, till he decided to go play with the dogs he knew lived around the corner and across the road. He walked through two lanes of peak hour traffic before he was hit.

He’s buried on the hill overlooking Booyeembara Park Fremantle where we spent many days walking. If you visit there say hi and pray that the last of Australia’s largest and most beautiful native carnivores don’t become extinct. He was a Victorian Alpine Dingo, there are about 100 left in the wild and they are being baited out of existence right now.

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