MALOU

When we finally received the confirmation, our joy was enormous. At last we were allowed to fulfil our long-awaited wish. We travelled to the Netherlands to collect Malou and flew home with our little bundle of joy in our hand luggage. There she was welcomed with open paws and settled into our pack as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It felt as though she had been the missing piece all along.

Malou became a loyal companion with whom we were able to experience an incredible amount. Selina was just completing the dog trainer training at the time, and Malou benefited from it like no dog before her. Together we learned, worked, grew and had endless fun. We travelled a lot, visited shows and kept discovering new adventures.

Malou was a dog you could simply do anything with. She loved to work, was incredibly obedient and loved people. She wanted to please, wanted to be part of everything and, above all, wanted to work with us. Not every one of our shared dreams came true. The wish for a breeding programme of our own with her remained unfulfilled, and we eventually had to let go of our agility plans as well. Instead, we discovered water rescue together, in which Malou, with her joy in working and her enthusiasm, found complete fulfilment.

She taught us so much. About trust, about working together and about that very special bond that develops when a dog does not simply live at your side but truly goes through life with you. Malou was our long-awaited wish, our loyal companion and one of those dogs you cannot simply replace. She was and remains the dog of our hearts.

Malou had to go far too soon. We still had so many plans with her, so many shared goals and so many moments we were determined to experience. We were not even allowed to take the water rescue test WA1 that we had been aiming for together. It hurts to think of everything that should still have been ahead of us and was suddenly never possible again.

Yet the pain of losing her is inseparably linked to one of the most difficult phases of our lives. When our perfect world collapsed and the doctors in the intensive care unit fought for Selina’s life, the veterinarians were also fighting for Malou’s life. The diagnosis was devastating: kidney failure as a result of a neglected pyelonephritis. During that time we learned in a painful way how quickly a life can change and that our time together can never be taken for granted.

Selina was in the intensive care unit and could not go to Malou. The thought of never being able to say goodbye to each other was almost unbearable. That is why the doctors did everything they could to make one last moment together possible for the two of them. They arranged for Selina to be taken off the life-support machines for a short time, so that she could see Malou once more and be with her.

For three long weeks Malou wanted to keep living. We firmly believe that she was waiting for Selina to come home. She wanted us to be together when she went. And indeed: only when Selina was finally back home did Malou let go.

Until her last breath she remained the Malou we will remember all our lives: loyal, full of trust and with a love that needed no words. She did not only accompany us through the good times, but was also a part of us in the hardest moments. That we were able to say goodbye to each other once more was a gift for which we are endlessly grateful. And yet the time we had together should never have ended.

Dear Malou,

thank you for letting us find you. Thank you for all the years, for every adventure, for every training session together, for your unshakeable loyalty and for the unconditional love you gave us.

You were our wish for so long, so often our happiness and forever a part of our story. We would have loved to have you by our side for many more years. We would have loved to experience so much more with you, to watch you work again and again and to reach many more goals with you. That this time was taken from us still hurts today.

You taught us that love does not end just because we have to let someone go. It stays in the memories, in the little things that remind us of you, and in the place you will always have in our hearts.

You were our long-awaited wish. You were the dog of our hearts. And no matter how many years go by, a part of us will always belong to you.