How much I'll miss him – but how thrilled that he’s gone to his forever home in the UK. I am of course talking about our beautiful Tremor – a dog we rescued in May 2008 during the horrible, devastating earthquake of Chengdu. A dog who has been such a big part of the lives of all of our staff in China, and particularly Caroline, our vet nurse, and myself, who shared (and adored) him on site.

Now, at last, he is with gorgeous Judy, our volunteer vet nurse who was also in China with us when we rescued him during that unforgettable time. Simon, Judy’s husband had quietly emailed a few months ago asking if Tremor could go to the UK as an anniversary present for Judy (who had similarly been captivated by his charms), and of course received an enthusiastic “yes” in return.

And so Tremor’s incredible journey began – he spent four months in quarantine in Hong Kong and then another two months at my home, before making his final journey of 7,000 miles to the UK on Thursday night. His arrival was heralded by much aplomb by Judy and family but, typical for Trem (the most relaxed dog on the planet), he breezed through and got down to the job of simply settling in. An excited Judy sent some pics 

and a message:

“I will upload some photos later this evening, but I just wanted to let you know how things are going. BRILLIANTLY!!! Fizzy (aged 13.5) has not realised anyone has arrived and Foggy (8-year old “puppy”) thinks all his Christmases have arrived at once – a whole dog of his own to play with!

Tremor is taking everything in his little stride. He is slightly wary of the fact that Foggy is so bouncy and growled at him when I was checking Tremor’s feet after he came in from the paddock (the indignity of being upside down and then Foggy coming over to check out his undercarriage was just a little too much!). 

But apart from that, Tremor is strutting around his new empire with quite a swagger. He has already worked out that going out to feed the goats is quite productive – they drop bits of carrot and they are frightened of him so moved well out of his way allowing him to pinch a juicy one. Result! 

I have included a couple of pictures – the one of him and Foggy is literally the first moment and Daisy the goat has her incredulous face looking towards him!”

*******

So Tremor, I'll miss you more than you'll ever know, but thank the heavens that you’re part of Judy and Simon’s family now, with a little space left in Chengdu perhaps for another Tremor waiting, somewhere in China, to love and be loved in return.