Karyn O’Keefe’s two pets have something most do not have, an Arabic passport.
She adopted two rescue dogs from Qatar through Furever Freed Dog Rescue in Langley. The centre handles dogs from around the world.
“These two had a particularly difficult time,” explained O’Keefe. “The poor critters had been shuffled around with the first adoption not working out and the second ending because the woman discovered she had allergies to them within a week.”
Rose is part greyhound and part Saluki and Pearl is part Saluki and part Pharaoh, an ancient dog breed that has changed little over 5,000 years, known to hunt gazelles with pharaohs. Saluki is another one of the world’s oldest breeds, used by kings for hunting for thousands of years, and once considered a gift from Allah.
A famous tourist attraction in Doha, the capital of Qatar, is a giant clam shell monument with a giant pearl inside.
“It’s most appropriate that Pearl is called that but I have no idea of the reason for Rose’s name other than she is such a sweet thing.”
The second owner, who named them, keeps in touch with O’Keefe, writing every couple months to see how they are doing.
O’Keefe has had the dogs since December when she picked them up in North Vancouver. Estimated then to be about two years old, “they are a bonded pair and can’t be separated by more than 25 feet. Pearl is really protective of Rose.”
When they first came to live with O’Keefe, they were extremely anxious and it has taken a lot of effort to eliminate that anxiety. She found it sad that they hid behind her when she took them out for a walk but now they are the Klahanie “neighbourhood social butterflies.”
They run like deer and have very small heads.
“So God help me when they get off the leashes as they can whip their collars off over their heads,” said O’Keefe. “I can’t catch them so luckily when they got off, they returned home.”
O’Keefe has had different breeds of dogs for years but never a bonded pair, and never a rescue dog.
“It was quite the process to adopt them and I was surprised by how thorough the centre was about looking at my house, yard and the kennel for them.”
O’Keefe is happy with her decision to adopt the pair.
“They drag me out of bed in the morning and make me take them for a walk. If I am still at my computer at 9:30 or 10 am, they howl at me to let me know it is time to get going.”
She said they are tremendous company, which people have needed over the past few months with the advent of COVID-19.
