Puppy love

Amanda Goff and David Basha are perfect soul mates, but if it wasn’t for their dogs, they may never have met, let alone fallen deeply in love. By Kelly Baker.

Amanda Goff was at the absolute lowest point of her life. In February 2003, at the age of 29, the seemingly healthy writer had suffered a stroke. Then, while recovering in hospital, she discovered its cause – she had a life-threatening heart condition. She was attempting to come to grips with this shattering news when her long-term boyfriend declared their relationship over. Amanda was heartbroken, but there was more to come. Just when it seemed things couldn’t possibly get any worse, she lost her job.  “I was devastated,” says Amanda bluntly. “It was a terrible, terrible time and it all happened in about a week.”

Amanda was released from hospital after seven days of observation. Luckily the stroke had been minor and she had suffered no serious complications. However, Amanda was deeply unhappy. She did her best to keep her chin up and when she turned 30 just days later, she allowed her friends to throw her a lavish bash. The party couldn’t have been more special, but the Sydney-based UK native had never felt so alone.

“I had all my girlfriends around me and they were wonderful, but I had a horrible time,” she says, shaking her head at the memory. “I was living on my own, my family were a long way away, and while I should have been celebrating turning 30, all I could think about was my own mortality.”

Sensing her misery, Amanda’s friends gathered close. They visited her often and regularly took her out for meals and coffee. Amanda appreciated their efforts, but her mood remained low.

In June 2003, about four months after the stroke, Amanda and her friends arranged to meet at a local shopping centre for one of their regular catch-ups. Amanda arrived early and wandered through the stores. When she spotted a pet shop she stepped inside and it was then that her life took a dramatic turn for the better. “I saw this little white Jack Russell-Chihuahua cross and all I could think was, ’I want that dog,‘” she says.

Amanda bought the puppy, which she named Georgie. For the first time in months she felt genuinely happy. She and the pup were instantly smitten and soon they were inseparable.

“Georgie and I were best friends,” smiles Amanda. “And I loved having him around. I’d had such a rough ride in the previous months and I guess I really wanted some stability in my life; Georgie provided that. Having him made a big difference to me – he really cheered me up. In fact, he changed my life.”

It wasn’t long before Amanda realised her tiny flat in the Sydney suburb of Paddington was not a suitable home for a dog, so about 12 months after she brought Georgie home she began to look for a new place to live. She settled on Bondi, drawn by the ocean, the wide open spaces in which to exercise Georgie and also the dog-loving community.

About a week after moving in, Amanda and Georgie set off for a walk when they bumped into David Basha, one of their new neighbours. David, a dog owner himself, commented on Georgie. “I asked Amanda if he was a little Jack Russell,” says David, 37. “But it was a ruse… I just wanted to talk to her.”

At this stage in her life Amanda had no interest in men, or relationships in general. After all, she had Georgie. But David’s charm, not to mention his outdoorsy good looks, made an impact.

“When you have a dog you’re not on your own and you don’t really need anyone,” explains Amanda. “To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about men at that point. I had my dog and I was exercising regularly. I was in a really good place, but when David spoke to me I couldn’t help but think, ‘Whoa, the men in Bondi are hot! Maybe I’d better walk past here again tomorrow morning.‘”

Three days later Amanda and Georgie bumped into David again. This time he had his dog, Bessie, a cattle-Shetland sheepdog cross, with him. The pair chatted easily, with the dogs providing them with an excuse to keep talking.

“I would never have had the courage to talk to Amanda if she didn’t have Georgie with her,” points out David. Amanda agrees, saying that without the dogs it’s likely she and David would never have met, let alone develop a friendship. “We live in a very friendly area and everyone says hello to one another, but if you don’t have anything specific to talk about it never goes any further than that,” she says.

Still, with Georgie and Bessie at hand, Amanda and David both felt free to talk whenever they spotted one another and soon they were catching up regularly. While they strolled they shared confidences. Amanda revealed that she was recovering from a broken heart and that Georgie was helping her heal. David told her he was a stockbroker and was feeling under pressure at work.

In December 2004, about two months after they first met, David realised he had fallen for Amanda. He decided it was time to ask her out on an official date and promised himself he would do so the next time he saw her. The moment came just a few days later, when Amanda and Georgie strolled past David’s apartment.

“It was about 6.30 in the morning,” remembers David with a smile. “We chatted for a while and then I just said, ‘Do you want to go out some time?’ Incredibly, I wasn’t nervous. Right from the beginning I felt comfortable with Amanda – far more than I had with other women. I’m not sure why, I just did.”

Amanda gave David her number, and he called her the next day. He was determined that he treat this dog-loving woman as well as possible. “I didn’t want to play games,” explains David. “I thought, ‘Right, I’m going to go for it.’”

For their date the pair arranged to meet at a local restaurant. They spent the evening laughing and talking, and there was not a moment of awkwardness, even without Georgie and Bessie to fall back on. “We had a really nice time,” says Amanda. “It was so easy and it just flowed. David told me more and more about himself, that he’d been married and was divorced... we just got on really well. We talked all night and it was great… we didn’t talk about the dogs once.”

Suddenly, David and Amanda’s relationship had stepped up a notch. So when Amanda was offered a magazine assignment on a cruise ship in January 2005, she invited David to come along. David readily agreed, but was secretly wondering whether he might have made a mistake.

“To be honest, I wasn’t that keen on going,” he reveals. “I was thinking: ‘What if it doesn’t work out? I'll be stuck there in a little cabin.’” But he needn’t have worried. The week-long cruise was pure romance from start to finish and when the couple returned to Sydney they had no doubts they were meant to be together. Within weeks they had set up house together.

“Looking back, I think that was my idea,” says David. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh my God, this is not like me.’ To know a girl for three or four months and then move in with her seems so reckless, but I just knew it was the right thing to do. I guess when you meet the right person, well, you just know.”

For a while everything went beautifully, with even Georgie and Bessie enjoying their new living situation, but there was no doubt sharing their home had its downsides. The apartment was small and it seemed even smaller when it was crammed with two people and two lively dogs. Eventually, Amanda had enough and insisted the new family upgrade their digs. “The dogs were really enjoying themselves,” says Amanda. “They had each other for company when we went off to work, but there wasn’t enough space.”

In December 2005 the couple moved into their first house. There was plenty of room and even a yard for the dogs to frolic in. For Amanda and David, life couldn’t have been sweeter. The only thing they had to worry about was Amanda’s heart condition. After much agonising, Amanda booked to see a specialist. She was told that the hole in her heart was repairable, but doing so would require open-heart surgery. Amanda was frightened. She knew surgery would have its risks, but she decided to go ahead. Then she made a discovery that meant a major operation was out of the question – she was pregnant.

“For months Amanda had been saying to me ‘let’s have a baby, let’s have a baby’, but I had been telling her to hang on a bit,” reveals David.

“Then I went out for a run with the dogs one morning and I had something of an epiphany. I came back and looked her in the eye and said: ‘I’m ready to have kids with you.’ A few weeks later we found out she was already pregnant – and she’d been pregnant when I said that to her.”

The power of pets

“A dog or a cat provides loyalty, companionship and a sense of security,” says Petcare Information and Advisory Service consultant Susie Chaseling. “Having a happy and loving pet to come home to, or who greets you in the morning, can provide a sense of motivation and responsibility which is a strong antidote to loneliness,” she explains.

Owning a pet is also a major boon for your general health. Research has shown pets can ease depression and promote a quicker recovery from serious illnesses such as heart attack. Dog owners also get the extra benefit of exercise and, as Amanda Goff and David Basha discovered, the opportunity to make new friends.

For information about the Advisory Service, visit www.petnet.com.au.

Photography: Andrew Lehmann. Hair & make-up: Stoj Bulic.