Cara

Over Cara

When visiting Ilse and Johan, Cwazi & Daico’s breeders, to look at Daico and his litter mates, we got to know Karoskloof TT Sim0,y Red’s owner, Michael. He and his girlfriend picked puppy Bordeaux as their foundation bitch.

During the years that followed, a friendship developed that resulted in me, Bonnie, being consulted when breeding plans where being made, stud dog questions came in, and litters where planned. The highlights though was being present at every litter during birth. For their first litter, we went to Schotland to meet  with the beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback stud dog, Sonstraal Baron Samedi. From the resulting litter Bongani’s Amila stayed with the Bongani’s whom I absolutely loved. So by the time she got her second litter, I was seriously tempted 😉

Pus I liked the stud they had picked. Cwazi and Daico, almost 11 and 9 years by then, where  still going strong but slowly getting older.

Karoskloof TT Simply Red, Daico’s sire, had died november 21 the year before. On the same date that he was born. And Bongani’s C litter, was born on 21 november 2013. A very special date indeed. Amila did wonderful again and the litter was born without any complications.

By the time the puppy’s where 4 weeks old, Lieven came along to visit them. And within the first minute, one girl stood out. Little miss orange, with the small kink at her tail tip.

We where not officially on the waiting list but there where still some puppy’s available and nobody had any special interest in miss orange so we where lucky. We named her Bongani’s Caramba, Cara. But the time we got to take her home, we immediately nick named her Caramel, which in the end was a much better suiting pedigree name for her than Caramba 😉

Cara was the easiest to raise Ridgeback so far. She never demolished anything, potty training was a breeze and she was, and still is, very fond of cuddling.

On our camping trips we can just let her off leash around the camper, she won’t bother anything or anyone. Contrary to Emoji who would then go and sniff out the whole camping grounds pretending it was hers 😉  Cara is happiest with a quiet place in the sun and the both of us close by.

She is a highly sensitive dog, so much so that I suspect her to be able to read auras 😉 especially mine. She knows I get irritated long before I do so myself, absorbing peoples emotions like a sponge. Besides that she loves to go her own way ( al long as we are in line off sight). On walks, she often picks her own path, a short distance from us, hiding between the trees. And I kid you not, whenever we turn a round and pretend not to see her, her eyes start to sparkle with mirth, ruining her cover wagging her tail off.

The Rhodesian Ridgeback Club Nederlands (RRCN) organizes lure coursing events where we volunteer and camp the day before and after with the other volunteers. Whilst Emoji rather plays with the other ridgebacks, Cara retreats in “her” campervan, keeping an eye out through the window she can look out for without even lifting her head.

At age 8, just after the we had to say goodbye to Emoji and @Hello arrived, she was diagnosed with Spondylosis. Luckily the pain medications helps enough to keep her still playful and happy. She still goes with us on our daily walks and even to the lure coursing training although we only do a straight. This way she can still have her adrenaline rush without straining her too much.