Tahli; now known as Tali


Tali and Chief My partner Jarrad and I became Dalmatian owners quite accidently 3 years ago. We were looking to adopt a dog and an acquaintance sadly needed to rehome his 5-year-old Dalmatian, Chief. We met, we loved, we adopted. We moved from Adelaide to Perth and there was no question; Chief came with us. 3 years on from his adoption, we felt Chief needed company and having fallen in love with Chief, Jarrad was very keen for our second dog to be a Dally.

We have been fostering for a couple of dog rescues in Perth over the last year and came across the DRAWA facebook page through rescue friends. I sent in the adopter questionnaire and the very same day, Tahli appeared on the facebook page. She had just come into foster care and exactly fitted our hopes for a female 4 years or older, to keep Chief company. Although I know there are lots of factors in a successful adoption coming to fruition, I just felt like this was going to be our girl. I tried desperately not to hope too much as I was sure there’d be lots of people in line for this beautiful girl.

Tali Fran from DRAWA got in touch and came to meet us at home. It felt really strange being on the other side of a house check, having carried them out myself. I was so nervous and wanted to give the best impression of the home we could offer. Fran told us a bit about Tahli and put us in touch with Dawn to talk more.

We got to meet Tahli soon after and just loved the tiny little girl that met us when we walked into Dawn’s house. We made sure we thought seriously about our decision but there really was no question that we wanted her to be part of our family. Most importantly we had Tahli and Chief meet and they got along well. When Dawn told us we could adopt her it was a wonderful relief!

The day Tali came home with us was so exciting. We’ve introduced Chief to quite a few foster friends and it was wonderful to bring home one who was to be his forever friend. We wanted to keep Tali’s name to make things simpler for her but have changed the spelling. This makes it an Aboriginal language word meaning sandhill country, that I use in my work with Indigenous communities.

Tali settled in beautifully and she and Chief are becoming better and better friends as time goes on. They like some space (he likes to sleep under the veranda, she convinced us she should sleep in the lounge room) but are starting to play more and more. Chief has always liked human attention more than playing with toys, but Tali loves playing and chasing toys around the yard and now he chases her chasing her toys. Tali tests him out, going up for a sniff and a cuddle and he is increasing reciprocating her affection. It is so sweet to see him warming up to her the way we have. She is a sneaky food stealer and very inquisitive so she’s teaching us to be very clean and tidy which is not a bad thing at all! She’s also taking to the training we are giving her and learning well.

By the time our 4-week trial period ended, Tali was well and truly ingrained in our lives. When I spoke to Dawn I said unequivocally, “You can’t have her back.” She has become so affectionate and found her place in our house. She looks so happy and when she wags her tail her whole body moves. She looks like a fish swimming across the floor as she runs up for a cuddle.
Tali happy to be home
We couldn’t be happier with the way our adoption process happened. Fran and Dawn were so responsive, professional and helpful. We felt like part of a big Dally family and Tali had the best care possible while she was getting ready for us to adopt her. We are thrilled to be Tali’s forever family and feel so lucky to have her settling into our lives.

From Alissa & Jarrad