When June McMeeken read about the plight of nine-year-old kelpie brothers Smokie and Bandit in last week’s You and Your Pet column she felt compelled to help.
The pair of dogs desperately needed a new forever home before previous owner Nicole Bibby moved overseas.
They have found it with June and husband John Brown in Yinnar and the union couldn’t have been more serendipitous.
“The last two weeks John has been saying ‘I want a dog, I’m lonely’, and I said ‘one will come along, don’t worry about it’,” June said.
“We’ve been after dogs ever since our previous dog Max passed away two years ago, but we wanted dogs that really needed a home.
“Usually dogs will come to you one way or another … and here we are.”
June has rescued “bedraggled” dogs for more than two decades and said she just can’t help herself when it comes to those in need.
“It’s just very sad when you hear about all these stories of dogs and it really does affect me,” she said.
Smokie and Bandit have “fitted in marvellously” with June and John and wasted no time making the home their own since arriving on Saturday. They sleep top to tail on beds in the front room, have been fitted with fashionable winter coats and love nothing more than supervising John while he paints in his backyard art studio.
“They just sit down there in the studio in the sun and tap on the door if they want to go in,” June said.
“He just loves them and they will sit right by his feet all day.”
John has found the “perfect companions” in Smokie and Bandit.
“We are so incredibly lucky to have inherited these amazing dogs,” he said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever come across such loving dogs.”
The Express is looking for passionate Latrobe Valley pet owners who would like to tell the story behind their pets and why they matter in their lives.
If you would like your pet to feature in a future edition of this weekly column, email news@lvexpress.com.au with ‘You and Your Pet’ in the subject line.
