Abracadabra!… a word recited by a magician about to reveal the mysterious power which they’ve drawn upon to perform the trick you are about to see! And yet, I don’t think the magicians of today ever use that phrase. Either way, whenever I hear the word, ‘Abracadabra!’ there is one particular magician that comes to mind… that would be our golden retriever, Jorga. Apparently no one ever told her she couldn’t be a dog magician!

Jorga was not a member of any magical affiliation or group… she had not acquired a special conjurers license that said she was qualified and permitted to perform magical tricks of any kind… and yet, a magician, of sorts, she was.

Jorga was lovingly known as “The Paper Shredding, Everything Eating, Goat Princess, Spazmanian Devil Who Eats Lego and Licks Metal”. She lived up to her name, but ‘magician’ was definitely missing from that list. She had this uncanny ability to do things that just didn’t seem possible. When left alone she had an incredibly mischievous side and since I wasn’t there to witness her ‘trouble-making abilities’ I was left like an audience member at a magic show… never knowing how the magic trick was done!

I remember one day in particular that still makes me laugh when I think back. I had been doing some work on the laptop and had papers and a notebook out on the table. Heading out, I thought to myself… “hmmm, now if I was Jorga, what would pose an overwhelming urge for me to destroy in the room?” Immediately, I was able to see it was all my paperwork! She loved paper! Christmas morning, Jorga would open everyone’s presents… including her brother, Ollie’s!

So, I thought I would be smart and piled the papers up neatly, placing them, along with the notebook, underneath my laptop. I then carefully looked at the arrangement to make sure there were no papers sticking out from under the laptop. The laptop was bigger than the papers and notebook combined, so I decided I was safe to go out. I figured that everything should be fine when I got back.

I couldn’t have been more WRONG!

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I got home and opened the door. Jorga had redecorated the house! It looked like the Tazmanian devil had run into a paper making factory! Funny thing was, she managed to pull the papers AND notebook out from UNDER the laptop WITHOUT disturbing it… at all! The laptop was in the exact same spot it was when I left it! All I could think of was a magician grabbing the edge of the table cloth, on a fully set dining table… yanking… and successfully pulling the cloth out without destroying the place settings on the table!

How on earth had she managed to pull that off? Had she conjured up some weird hocus-pocus or levitation powers? Did she have abilities that I should be harnessing and sharing with the world… on some talent show… to make a million dollars? Had she figured out the real powers behind the word Abracadabra!? I still don’t know how she did it, but what I did know was that she had chewed up every piece of paper I had left under my computer and strewn it around the room! Now I don’t about you, but that is talent… or magic!

It really was one of those moments where you walk in the door … stand there and then have to pick your jaw up off the floor after a few minutes of staring at the room! Then, what is there left to do except laugh, all while getting a broom out to clean up!

Needless to say, from that point on, nothing, and I do mean nothing of value was ever left out again – not even if I thought I had hidden it well! It was pretty clear that I didn’t know the meaning… or the methods… behind “hiding” anything! Flashback to childhood, I now see why I was never very good at hide-and-seek!

Jorga, as you run through the fields at Rainbow Bridge, know you are always in our hearts! We really have many fond and funny memories of the time we had with you. These memories are what allows you to live on in spirit! I will say a new nickname only seems appropriate though… Jorga the Magnificient! Now, one… two… three… Abracadabra!