On Thursday last week, Tuts’ owner died at St Clair beach while out on the water, despite extensive efforts to rescue and resuscitate him.
St Kilda resident Andrea Crawford, who has now taken ownership of Tuts, first met the shar pei and Staffordshire bull terrier cross when he tried to snatch the ball she was throwing for her dog, Jett.
‘‘Tuts is ball obsessed.’’
While she was throwing the ball for both dogs, a stranger came over and told her Tuts belonged to the man being rescued from the water.
Not knowing what to do, she put a leash on Tuts.
She said Tuts was pre-occupied with the ball and did not notice his ‘‘best friend’’ was being pulled out of the water, or that he was dying.
‘‘He wasn’t taking any notice of what was going on — I don’t think he would have even known, really, that it was his dad over there.’’
Paramedics at the scene asked Ms Crawford if she could look after Tuts, and so she gave them her details and took him to her home.
‘‘It just broke my heart, because Tuts kept on looking behind, wondering where his dad was.
‘‘He was the his best buddy.
‘‘You can tell how special he treated Tuts because he insists on sitting in the passenger seat, and for the first few days tried to sleep in the bed.
‘‘Tuts has obviously been right there beside him all the time ... he’s been absolutely spoilt rotten.’’
It took quite a few days to track the man’s family down, as he was originally from the North Island and had no family living in Dunedin.
On Tuesday, the man’s daughter called Ms Crawford and the family came over to talk to her about Tuts.
By then, Ms Crawford had fallen utterly in love with the cuddly animal.
‘‘We spent some time with them, and I was a little bit worried they were going to take him ... but they said, ‘no, no, look, he’s really happy here, and, you know, seems pretty settled’, so he’s officially mine now.’’
She said it meant Tuts, who had lived in the St Kilda and St Clair area his entire life, did not have to leave his home.
Ms Crawford said she had not noticed if Tuts was pining for his ‘‘dad’’, but it was his character to be a happy, calm, relaxed and friendly dog.
‘‘He would be quite content for me to just sit here and cuddle him all day.
‘‘We’re very, very happy to have him.’’
