Who rescued who??

My best mate "Wee Betty"!!

Wee Betty was a rescue dog that my son and his mum got from the shelter around 10 years ago. I was living with my dad at the time and my son wanted to bring her up to see me as soon as he got her. Betty was her name she had from the previous owners so we just decided to keep that name for her.

What was really odd about it was my son already had another dog on his mind going up to the shelter that he seen online but when he got there it was gone and they said this other little dog has just been dropped in about 10 mins ago if you want it, it was wee betty dropped off by some old lady they said. 

We are so lucky to have got her.

She is around 10 years old and is a springer spaniel / jack russell mix, well I think thats what she is anyway, she's definitely the energy of a springer.

I never forget that first day she landed up to my dads house where I was living, I was right in the middle of dark times.

I had this container that I worked out off selling mattresses that we plonked in the middle of the city at my Albanian mates car wash and most of the days I sat there drinking vodka and taking cocaine.

I had just lost everything I owned and flogging these mattresses from a car wash was my last ditch effort to make some money. I was in a horrible place back then.

When I first seen wee betty that day and the energy from her I felt this is just what I needed. It was on my mind back then that I really wanted to go out and walk more and try and get fit but walking on your own in forests and local parks just didn't feel right for me.

I knew Wee Betty was about to change my life and that my son and his mum would have no problems at all in me coming to get her as and when I wanted.

I started off getting her a couple of mornings a week and walked her up to the top of Stormont and back, Its our Parliament buildings here and its 1 mile to the top up hill. 

I could hardly make it to the top to be honest back then and would have been so much out of breath.

After 15 years of drink and drug abuse my body was a mess. But I remember saying to myself all them years ago that one day I'm going to run this hill.

Wee betty believe it or not rescued me. she was my door out of a dark world, I was so lost in life back then, no direction, I felt trapped and I couldn't see a way out.

Everyone I knew was a gangster or a crook, an alcoholic or drug addict and wee betty lit up my life!

I looked forward so much to going and getting her, she made me laugh and smile going out with her for the day.

Over time I started to get her more and more and everytime I drove over to get her she would sit on the window sill looking out for me. 

My sons mum said she sat there all day just looking out for me coming.

As soon as I drove up she jumped off the window sill and straight for the door, I didnt even go in, my son or his mum just opened the door and she came sprinting out to me and off we went on an adventure.

I remember thinking once when we went to the beach and we were playing and I thought to myself, I'm having a better time here just me and betty than I've ever had in any bar or drug fuelled session.

The thought of her sitting on the window sill looking out for me really played on my head and the days I was getting her got more and more until I just kept her full time.

This wee dog was my new best mate and for years it was just me and her. I couldn't be f**ked with anyone else. Me and wee betty took ourselves to the mountains - aka to our Narnia as many times a week as possible.

Some Buddhists believe that your passed loved ones can be reincarnated back with you in the form of animals, back then I knew nothing about Buddhism. But years later when I read this I started to think was wee betty my mum coming back into my life to look after me.

Who knows!! But one thing I do know,  there is a good chance I would be dead if it wasn't for Wee Betty.

This wee dog saved my life and she's been with me now for nearly every tree I've phantom planted. I could write all day about her.

#WeeBetty