Friday

Friday came to us from Elcho Island in East Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. He is a very special dog! His owners were transferred to another indigenous area in the Top End and were not able to taken their dog with them due to tribal laws. The Chooky Dancers and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu also come from Elcho Island. Friday flew to Darwin and was met by a nice lady who took him to her place and then at midnight she took him back to the airport and prepared his crate to fly to Brisbane, this was organised by Mary from All Animal Transport. Mary picked him up in the early hours of the morning and took him back to her place where he stayed until Paula from Dogmovers picked him up and brought him down to Grafton. His owners shared his story: Our dog Friday came to us on a Friday, hence his name. He was only a pup we think maybe between 6 to 8 weeks old, we were driving past top camp and stopped when we realised that a bunch of children had puppies and they were throwing them. We couldnt bear to witness such cruelty and disrespect, so we offered to purchase the little pup that had come running up to us. So it was agreed that I would purchase the pup through the swapping of gifts. I went to the local shop and purchased items such as ice-blocks, milk, juice, chips, colouring books and pencils, a tee-shirt, wheat-bix, a loaf of bread, margarine and golden syrup and swapped this for the pup. Thats how we came to own Friday, we brought him home and he had already developed mange, so with directions on the phone from the vet on the mainland (as we have no vet on the island) we dosed him with ivermectin, followed a few weeks later with regular worming. He started to put on weight and adapted his life with our family. Friday loves to be with people, he is an attractive boy, likes to play with other dogs. Friday loves to play with older children probably 8 or 10 up, loves to wrestle and play fetch, though he doesnt chase a ball very well, but he likes to chase sticks. He has some training, he knows to sit and come, he waits for his food until you walk away or tell him he can eat, he shakes but not very well as yet, he knows that he must sit and wait before he is invited into the home, though occasionally he will try to bluff his way in and he walks well on a lead, but still needs some direction in not crossing over to each side when he walks. The Indigenous children love to watch him go for a walk and we often have a trail of them tagging behind us, watching him on the lead as none of their dogs are ever put on a leads. It is our hope that whoever is allowed to have Friday will be a proud owner of a very unique dog, who likes to chat and spend time with people, he loves to go for drives and loves to be in a boat fishing. He is a true water dog and will spend hours playing in the water. We are not sure how he is with other species such as cats, rabbits, as there are none of them on the island.